Why is Hendon Hooker’s draft stock suddenly soaring 4 months after his torn ACL?

Hooker’s gorgeous deep ball and big numbers could boost his draft stock. But also, he’s older than Justin Herbert.

Hendon Hooker is one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft.

He’s built like a classic dropback quarterback but has the speed and athleticism to escape the pocket and create havoc on the ground. He’s an explosive, accurate downfield passer who completed nearly 69 percent of his passes at the University of Tennessee while posting a 58:5 touchdown-to-interception ratio over two seasons. He plays with a game-changing presence.

But he’s also 25 years old — four years older than fellow prospects Bryce Young or CJ Stroud and two months older than Justin Herbert, who just wrapped up his third NFL season. He’s coming off a torn ACL suffered back in November and hasn’t been able to work out for pro scouts. He lit up the sky in a vertical, pass-heavy offense that calls back the gaudy efficiency of 1990s Texas Tech quarterbacks.

This all makes him a polarizing prospect. Both The Draft Network and Pro Football Network peg him as a fourth round pick. ESPN scribe and former NFL front office mainstay Mike Tannenbaum sees him as a top five selection.

Tannenbaum’s projection is an outlier, but there’s still been some modest hype building for the Volunteer quarterback as the pre-draft process unfolds. Despite being limited to interviews there’s been a quiet undercurrent pushing him as the top quarterback of that second tier. That doesn’t mean he’ll be a first round pick — though it’s not out of the question — but those runner-up options have generally been a Day 2 staple.

It’s not unheard of to see players with a pre-draft, third-round-or-later grade taken off the board earlier than expected. The Philadelphia Eagles’ gamble paid off when they reached for Jalen Hurts at No. 53. Christian Hackenburg was expected to go somewhere in the third or fourth rounds before the New York Jets continued a tradition of awful quarterback selections to take him in the second round in 2016.

As with any quarterback prospect who doesn’t have unanimous Day 1 hype, there are more ways this could go wrong than right for Hooker. So what are the reasons teams should buy in on his rising stock — and what are the reasons they shouldn’t spend premium draft assets on him?