The Detroit Lions may not have room on the active roster for Nate Sudfeld in the coming season, but the veteran signal-caller is still expected to play an important role in the quarterback room.
Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports predicted that the Lions would keep only two quarterbacks on the active roster, leaving Sudfeld to the practice squad. But the coaching staff has already hinted that Sudfeld will not be an ordinary third-stringer this season.
Lions Trimming Quarterback Room
After keeping three quarterbacks on the active roster for much of the 2023 season, the Lions could trim things down this season, Payton predicted. Jared Goff is cemented at the top and second-year quarterback Hendon Hooker is expected to back him up, but the team may not have room for another quarterback on the roster.
“No surprises here,” Payton wrote. “Goff and Hooker will be the Lions two quarterbacks with Nate Sudfeld sticking with the team to be their practice squad guy.”
The “practice squad guy” could carry more importance this season after the league changed a rule allowing teams to call up an emergency quarterback from the practice squad rather than the active roster. That means if Sudfeld were to be released and re-signed to the practice squad, he could provide important depth should Goff and Hooker both go down with injuries.
But Sudfeld could be more than just an insurance policy this season. As SI.com’s Vito Chirco wrote in June, Lions quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell suggested that he could play an important role in helping to steady Goff.
“Now, he hasn’t played a lot, but he’s been around a lot. This is what Nate brings to the table,” Brunell told reporters. “He’s been in multiple systems. He is a hard-working guy with a great attitude. He’s excellent in the room. He’s excellent in the locker room, guys like him, but he’s very smart. He understands situational football as well as anybody I’ve been around. We ask a lot of our quarterbacks at the line of scrimmage and in the huddle. We ask our guys to get us into the right play.
“So, if you have a play and there’s a problem over there, you have to be able to fix it. And within the parameters of the play, we have the opportunity to go from one play to the next depending on what we’re seeing, and 99 percent of the time, Nate is right.”
Uncertain Future for Hendon Hooker
The Lions could face a looming decision on Hooker, who came to the team as a fourth-round pick last season but spent most of the year rehabbing a torn ACL. While some analysts saw Hooker as a potential starter one day, Goff cemented himself as the team’s quarterback of the future and earned a $212 million contract extension.
That leaves an uncertain future for Hooker. The Atheltic’s Colton Pouncy predicted that the Lions could eventually look to trade Hooker, though likely not until after the coming season.
“The Lions drafted him to be a high-upside backup with starting potential if needed, but now that he’s blocked by Goff for the foreseeable future, could a trade down the road be the best way to maximize his value?” Pouncy wrote. “It’s an interesting discussion. Probably not one for the 2024 season, but perhaps when we get deeper into his rookie contract.”
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