For the most part, Mike Valenti is "fine" with the Lions' draft class. He knows they're trying to win now and picked players in the first two rounds who jibe with that approach: "I would have done it differently, but I accept what they did in the first round and I don’t hate what they did in the second round."
The pick he objects to is quarterback Hendon Hooker, 68th overall:
"That’s the pick that bugged me. It bothers me. That (No. 68) is a starter on a team that’s going to win the division. And they didn’t address up front early in this draft and I wish they would have. I just look at, Hendon Hooker is hurt, he’s old and you’re drafting him to sit behind Jared Goff for at least one year. And you only have four years on his contract, not five. The reality is, he’s probably sitting for two years. So what did you really do here, versus signing a veteran backup? But that’s consistent to what I said leading up to all this: I wouldn’t waste a pick on a QB. If Goff plays well, factually, Hendon Hooker never plays. Ever."
Hooker was a leading Heisman candidate at Tennessee last season until he tore his ACL in November. He threw 58 touchdowns to five interceptions and rushed for 1,000-plus yards over the last two seasons, but he's also 25 years old -- just three years younger than Goff, who's coming off a career season and is signed through 2024. To Valenti, taking a flyer on Hooker is a waste, whether or not Goff sustains his level of play from last season:
"I have seen this out play out a million times that if Goff doesn’t perform to the level they want and they don’t want to pay him, you’re going to end up getting someone better than Hendon Hooker, via the draft or via trade. It happens every year. We see all these alleged draft-and-stash QB’s. Great example, Texans drafted Davis Mills (in the third round in 2021), he was going to be their developmental guy. He got one shot and what did they do? They went over the top of him and took their QB of the future (CJ Stroud second overall this year). So what was the value of using a third-round pick on Davis Mills? The answer is, bootkiss.
"I just feel like if we get to the end of this and they don’t want to pay Jared Goff, unless Hendon Hooker shows you an incredible amount every day in practice, it is likely going to be wasted. Now, if they mined a gem and this is their Russell Wilson in the mid rounds, then this is the type of pick that alters a franchise forever. I’m just telling you, that’s a one-in-a-thousand shot."
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