Hendon Hooker injury update: Lions QB 'got his bell rung,' enters concussion protocol

After Hendon Hooker left Thursday’s preseason opener against the Giants, Lions coach Dan Campbell confirmed he’s in concussion protocol. The former Tennessee star left after the third quarter and headed to the locker room after stopping at the injury tent.

Hooker made a huge play when he trucked a defender to get a first down, but that was one of his final snaps of the night. Nate Sudfield returned as quarterback as the Lions fell to the Giants 14-3 in the first preseason game of the year.

While it was unclear what the extent of Hooker’s injury was, the speculation was it was a concussion, Campbell confirmed it. He also summed it up in a way only he could.

“I know he got his bell rung,” Campbell said after the game, via The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy. “That’s what that was.”

During his limited action, Hooker completed five of nine passes for 36 yards and took four carries for 34 yards as he took over for Sudfield, who struggled mightily. It was his first game since 2022 when he tore his ACL during his final season at Tennessee, which saw him emerge as a top quarterback in college football.

Across 11 games in 2023, Hooker threw for 3,135 yards and 27 touchdowns to go with 430 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground. He had some first-round potential in the draft, but ultimately fell to the third round after suffering a season-ending torn ACL against South Carolina.

Hooker sat out the entire 2023 campaign as he rehabbed from the injury and is competing to become the Lions’ primary backup quarterback behind Jared Goff, who signed a lucrative contract extension this offseason to cement his status as the starter moving forward.

But preseason reps are going to be important for Hendon Hooker, Campbell said earlier in the offseason program. The goal for training camp will be to get him comfortable enough with the offense that he can be called up on if Goff, for some reason, has to come out.

“We need to feel like by the end of camp this guy can, he can run this offense,” Campbell said in late May, via MLive.com’s Kyle Meinke. “He’s somebody we know that, man, we can play the game a certain way with him. We know he’s going to be able to process the information, he’s going to get us in the right play, and he’s somebody that we can — man, he’s going to keep the ship afloat. That’s it.

“We don’t need him to come in and win a game. You just want to feel like, ‘All right.’ So obviously he’s going to need to take another step up.”