While Teddy Bridgewater‘s early retirement will create an opening for Hendon Hooker behind Jared Goff, the Lions are still taking care of the other quarterback on last year’s team.
Nate Sudfeld re-signed with the team Wednesday. The Lions are bringing Sudfeld back months after he suffered a torn ACL during the preseason. Should Sudfeld stick with the Lions — via the 53-man roster or practice squad — this will be his ninth NFL season.
Sudfeld, 30, has been with the Lions since they signed him shortly after roster-cutdown day in 2022. The team brought him back — on a one-year, $1.6MM deal — in 2023 but added Bridgewater as Goff’s top backup weeks before the former’s knee injury. Goff, Hooker and Sudfeld now comprise the QB contingent on the Lions’ roster.
Still perhaps most famous for being inserted into the Eagles’ 2020 regular-season finale — as Doug Pederson benched a healthy Jalen Hurts late in a game that gave Washington the NFC East title — Sudfeld has become a steady reserve option around the NFL. Sudfeld backed up Nick Foles during the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII run, as Carson Wentz had gone down with an ACL tear.
Sudfeld’s failure to beat out Brock Purdy for the 49ers’ third-string job in 2022 has also aged quite well. The Indiana alum has appeared in two Lions games but has not thrown a regular-season pass since that 2020 finale.
The Lions moved Hooker onto their active roster as a third-stringer late last season, a move that prevented the third-round pick’s contract from tolling. Hooker’s deal still runs through 2026, but with Bridgewater leaving the game at 31, the Tennessee alum is slated to move up the depth chart behind Goff. Barring something unexpected, Sudfeld would have a ceiling as a third-stringer for the 2024 Lions. He could be in line to dress as Detroit’s emergency backup. A Tuesday rule change will allow teams unlimited elevations for P-squad QBs for the purpose of dressing a third as the emergency option.
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Hoping to see Hooker in the preseason. Really curious to see how he looks after the injury.
I’m dying to see Hooker play. I’m not as high on Goff as most Lions fans.
I would like to see Hooker too, although I’ve become quite high on Goff. Not at first, however, as I was infuriated when they traded Stafford to the Rams and then he immediately won a Super Bowl. However, how Holmes used those draft picks and how great Goff did the last season and a half, I’m sold on him now. But still, if he got hurt, they’d have to depend on Hendon. I’m just curious as to what’s there with him or would they have to obtain a QB1 to replace Jared if he got injured long term.
Fair enough. I don’t dislike Goff. I just feel there are a lot of things propping him up in Detroit. Put him on another team and I believe he’s just back to being an average NFL QB. If he was playing like this without a great supporting cast, a great O-line and a great OC, I’d think more highly of him. He has just never been a great QB on his own merits in my mind.
Agree with most of that. He was pretty average his final years in LA. That’s why I was originally pissed when the trade happened and he’s got a far better supporting cast going on with the Lions but he did take the Rams to the Super Bowl. I’m thinking that he could do the same thing in Detroit. If Josh Reynolds didn’t have those dropped passes in the second half of the NFC Championship game, I do believe they could have gotten to and possibly won the Super Bowl. I’ve never been so optimistic about the future of the team as I currently am, and a portion of that is because of Goff. I never thought I’d ever have a conversation like this before. It was completely surreal to watch them win not one but two playoff games, especially since they only won one in the previous 6+ decades! Dan Campbell has instilled a winning attitude in this team the likes that we’ve not seen in those decades. Plus the FAs that Brad Holmes has brought in this offseason and the complete and total support from Sheila Hamp helps immensely. She’s the only useful member of the Ford family football wise and a 12-5 regular season and going deep in the playoffs is the result.
Crazy that he got a bigger contract than Russell Wilson.