Bruce Feldman, very respected in NFL circles came out today with his latest mock draft:
23. Minnesota Vikings: Hendon Hooker, QB, Tennessee
Minnesota needs help in the secondary, but this is such a deep draft at corner, and the Vikings could have a hard time passing up the player who eventually takes over for Kirk Cousins. The 6 feet 3, 217-pound Hooker is coming off of an ACL injury that shortened his fantastic senior season for the Vols. He threw for almost 3,000 yards and had a 27-to-2 TD-to-INT ratio; he also ran for 430 yards and five TDs. In his last two seasons with the Vols that TD-to-INT number was 58-to-5. The Vikings don’t need to play him now, so he can keep healing and have time to develop in Kevin O’Connell’s system. I’m told that Hooker shined in NFL QB interviews with coaches at the combine, displaying a lot of maturity and an excellent grasp of not only the Vols offense but also his former offense at
Virginia Tech, where he started his career. I wouldn’t be shocked if Hooker gets picked higher than Levis, as some NFL coaches I talked to liked his game more than the
Kentucky QB’s.
The Coaching Intel
“He was much better live and on tape than I thought he was gonna be. At first, it was like, ‘Uh, this guy’s alright,’ but then you keep watching and it’s, ‘Uh, my God. This guy has grown leaps and bounds in a year.’ He’s got a cannon. When you look at that Tennessee system, it’s clear that it is a half-field read, where a lot of times half of the receivers aren’t running routes. I think he will have a learning curve making the leap.”
“I think he’s super underrated. He played in two significantly different offenses. I was super impressed with him both in our game and on tape. I know in that offense he’s throwing into space and reading the leverage of the defender, where they spread you out so much more horizontally in one-on-one situations, so he probably only saw Quarters (coverage) and Man. He’s not reading, ‘Are they rolling strong, rolling weak, reading Cover 2,’ but he would sit in the pocket and hang tough. He can make all throws, can throw with touch. He might not run straight-line as fast as Levis, but I think he’s able to escape and create better and has much better pocket presence.”
“Big Hendon fan. He was the smartest of the three QBs we saw (Richardson, Levis and Hooker). I like his decision-making and he has a really quick release. That system really fit him. I thought he was a Donovan McNabb-type. Obviously, he got that ACL (injury). I think he’s really underrated. I think Hendon’s arm might be better than Levis’.”
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