With the NFL Draft rapidly approaching, much of the talk has been about the quarterbacks. The fairly league-wide consensus seems to be that the best two signal callers in the class are Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s CJ Stroud. After this, it’s a little bit of debate, depending on who you ask. The stock of Florida’s Anthony Richardson has shot up in the past few months based on him having the tools to be an elite NFL QB. The same argument has been made for Kentucky’s Will Levis.
However, with both quarterbacks, the production does not nearly match that of their fellow SEC East counterpart, Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker. Hooker has been absolutely phenomenal for the Volunteers for two seasons in a row now, and while he may not have the eye popping arm strength of Levis or Richardson (though his arm is very good as well), he dominated in the same league while the other two struggled.
Over the past two seasons as a starting quarterback, Hendon Hooker has thrown for a ridiculous 58 touchdowns compared to just five interceptions. Meanwhile, as for the two men who will likely go ahead of him, Levis has thrown for 43 touchdowns and 23 interceptions, while Richardson (who has not been a full two-year starter), threw for 23 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Since Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes have taken over the league, there has been a tendency to look for traits in a quarterback over production. And I understand why, but it needs to be acknowledged that guys like this are the exception, not the rule. Hooker has simply shown a significantly better ability to play the position of quarterback than both Levis and Richardson.
Yet, they will likely both be drafted ahead of him. There seems to be a great deal of overthinking from NFL teams when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks in the year of 2023. Hooker has proven himself to be phenomenal. A team is going to end up getting a steal in him on draft night.
