The New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers are getting divorced. It won’t be as messy as some might have expected (or hoped). But the long and short of it is that the Jets are once again in search of a franchise QB. Many, like Rodney Harrison, believe the 2025 NFL Draft is not the time or place for New York to find their answer.
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Instead, they should look for a low-cost option, feels Harrison. One that could serve as a one-year bridge to the supposedly stacked 2026 QB class at the least, or as their long-term option under center at the most.
Harrison believes there is such a player already in the league — Detroit Lions’ second-year signal caller Hendon Hooker.
“I’m gonna call Detroit, and I’m gonna pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, I’m very interested in Hendon Hooker, your backup quarterback’. He’s healthy, he was a Heisman guy until he got hurt at the University of Tennessee,” said Harrison, before presenting the qualities that he admires in Hooker.
“I got a chance to see him often. And he’s big, he’s smart, he’s an older guy… he’s in his low 20s. He’s very mature. I would trade for Hendon Hooker,” added Harrison.
Hooker was one of the top QBs coming out of college in the 2023 NFL Draft. He won SEC Offensive Player of the Year and was named First-Team All-SEC. However, an ACL injury and his age (25 on draft day in 2023) hurt his draft stock.
The Lions scooped him up in the 3rd round, and the injury kept him out for nearly his entire rookie year. Hooker got on in mop-up duty a couple of times during the 2024 campaign, going 6-for-9 for 62 yards.
At 6’3″ and 220 pounds, Hooker has the prototypical size for a QB. And he offers the dual-threat ability so prized by NFL teams nowadays. He’s got a big arm, but the one worry among scouts appears to be how he will fare when defenses take away his first option and he has to go through his progressions.
Despite that, Harrison thinks he’s a much better value pickup for the Jets than anyone they can snag early in this year’s draft.
“I’m taking Hendon Hooker before I’m taking Shedeur Sanders, before I’m taking Cam Ward,” said Harrison.
Hooker’s been in offensive guru and newly minted Chicago Bears HC Ben Johnson’s system for the last two years. And that’s a big plus for Harrison.
“I’m taking that guy, he’s been rehabbing, he’s been behind Jared Goff the last couple [of] years, he’s been coached by Ben Johnson. So you know he’s been coached the right way,” said Harrison. “He’s a very mature young man. I’m telling you, this Hendon Hooker, I’ve been on him for a while. I think he’s a hidden gem in the NFL.”
Miami’s Cam Ward, who is the higher rated between him and Sanders, is unlikely to fall to the Jets at No. 7. Sanders could be there, though. And that means the Jets have a decision to make.
Hooker is a cheaper option for the Jets
Hooker can be taken as a mid-round pick. He’ll also be on a salary that brings a cap hit of less than $2 million for the next two seasons. Sanders, meanwhile, would likely get something between the four-year, $36.6 million deal Drake Maye received and the four-year, $21.1 million contract J.J. McCarthy signed last year.
Knowing Sanders and his father, he’ll probably be pushing for the higher end of that range. That means that the rookie might actually be the more costly option here.
It could be important, because right now the Jets have about $15 million in cap space, as per Spotrac. That isn’t a ton to go out in March and improve the team in free agency.
Depending on how they handle the Rodgers release, they could be in dire straits this season. That’s if they take it all on the chin in 2025. Then again, they could also spread his $49 million dead cap number across several years.
Either way, Hooker seems like a good option during an offseason when New York will have to pinch pennies. If they’re going to make improvements in other areas of the team that need it (offensive line, defensive depth, wide receiver, tight end), a cheap option with a high ceiling at QB like Hooker could be just the thing. It’s not like the Jets have Super Bowl aspirations in 2025 anyway.
