Over the past couple weeks Vikings fans haven’t been able to look at a mock draft without seeing Hendon Hooker’s name connected to Minnesota.
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman was one of the draft experts mocking Hooker to the Vikings, and he explained his reasoning when he was a guest on The Rich Eisen Show on Thursday.
“The buzz, I think, on Hendon Hooker is really going way up. When I was in Indy I had lunch with a quarterback coach in the NFL and I said, ‘Who really impressed you in the meetings?’ He was like, ‘Loved Hendon Hooker.’ His demeanor was great. Not only did he have great knowledge of what they did at Tennessee, he had great knowledge of what they did at his previous place, Virginia Tech. Was just kind of wowed by him. And when I started talking to more people about him, he was the guy of probably, three or four, who you’d hear people just gushing about [him], said Feldman.
“You don’t need him to come in and play right away. I think he can get acclimated. Kevin O’Connell we know is good with quarterbacks. We know the structure there should be good, there’s good young receivers. I think that would be an ideal spot for him. And people I’ve talked to think Hendon Hooker, wouldn’t surprise [them] if he went above Will Levis. They like him that much and they’re intrigued by him.”
Hooker is coming off an ACL injury that ended his senior season in November. Feldman was asked about when Hooker might be expected to play and said, “At some point somebody told me he thought maybe by midseason he could be ready to go if need be.”
Feldman continued…
“I imagine you want him to really get acclimated to what they do in the NFL, and keep developing, because you think his potential is what these other coaches who played him think. They’re just really high on him.”
The latest to hop on the Hooker-to-the-Vikings mock draft buzz is CBS Sports’ Will Brinson, who has the Vikings taking Hooker with the 23rd pick. Here’s his analysis:
Let’s get weird!!!! Kirk Cousins fits the scheme, knows the scheme, knows the coach, etc, etc. But he’s 34 years old and has one year left on his contract. Hooker’s coming off a torn ACL so the timeline is pretty outstanding to grab a leader/scheme dependent type QB to run this KOC offense. It gives the Vikings some pretty good leverage if there’s mutual interest in running it back for 2024 and it should motivate Cousins this year. The only question is if they’ll let him know.
Others to mock Hooker to Minnesota include Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network and ESPN’s Todd McShay.
