2025 NFL Draft preview: Could the Lions be in the market for a late QB?

Our 2025 Detroit Lions draft preview series begins with a look at the team’s need at quarterback.

With the 2025 NFL Draft just about two weeks away, we’re kicking off a series assessing the Detroit Lions’ needs at each position. In addition to that, we’re going to look at the top available prospects at each position and a handful of mid-to-late round options to fill Detroit’s needs.

We’re starting with the quarterback position, a position you can never fully count out for any team.

2025 Detroit Lions draft preview: Quarterbacks

Under contract: Jared Goff (signed through 2028), Hendon Hooker (2026), Jake Fromm (2025), Kyle Allen (2025)

Short-term need: 1/10
Long-term need: 2/10

Jared Goff is the unquestioned starter going into 2025 and likely beyond. That leaves a number of players fighting for one or potentially two backup spots. Hendon Hooker is the leading candidate, having gotten the nod as QB2 for most of the 2024 season. However, a late-season signing of Teddy Bridgewater pushed him down the depth chart for the Lions’ playoff game against the Washington Commanders, leaving Hooker a game day inactive. Do the Lions have a confidence crisis with their former third-round quarterback?

Given the offseason moves made by Detroit thus far, the evidence seems to indicate no lack of faith in Hooker. Aside from bringing back Jake Fromm on a futures contract, they signed journeyman backup Kyle Allen to a one-year, $1.27 million deal—hardly breaking the bank. Though Allen has 19 career starts under his belt, his previous two starts were disastrous for the Houston Texans back in 2022. Since then, he had stuck with the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers as a second- and third-string quarterback, respectively.

If the Lions do not see enough progress from Hooker, they could be in the market for another quarterback to groom behind Goff. Despite his recent draft status, Hooker is entering his age 27 season and his development window might close before too long. It could be a make-or-break year for Hooker. Meanwhile, Allen and Fromm are only signed for one year, so the Lions will undoubtedly need quarterback help next offseason.

One concern about drafting a quarterback is that it might shoehorn the Lions into keeping three quarterbacks on the roster in 2025, eliminating some roster flexibility, lest they risk waiving and losing Hooker or their rookie.

PFF Top 100: Cam Ward (Miami), Shedeur Sanders (Colorado)
Other notables: Jalen Milroe (Alabama), Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss), Max Brosmer (Minnesota), Graham Mertz (Florida)

The Lions are unlikely to spend an early draft pick on a quarterback, meaning Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders will certainly be off the board by the time Detroit is picking. Jalen Milroe and Jaxson Dart, two quarterbacks sitting outside of PFF’s Top 100, could also sneak into the first two rounds, likely too rich for the Lions’ tastes.

If the Lions were to draft a quarterback, they could be in the market for a prospect in the mold of previous backups Teddy Bridgewater or Nate Sudfeld. Backup quarterbacks tend to be viewed as one of three types: a fringe starter, a developmental player, or a de facto quarterback coach. Bridgewater was a fringe starter, but his true value to the Lions came as a trusted member in the film room and motivator on the practice field. Hooker falls into the developmental category, so Detroit could look for prospect with a lower ceiling but a high football IQ. Two draftable names are Max Brosmer and Graham Mertz. They lack the athletic profile of a player like Hooker, but they have been projected as cerebral players.