Ranked #2 on Daniel Jeremiah’s Top 50 Prospect list, released today, here’s what he had to say about Hooker.
“Hooker is a tall, rangy safety prospect with incredible instincts. He usually lines up as the high safety and he has an uncanny ability to anticipate throws, drive on the ball, and finish. He is ultra-fluid in his change of direction and has the ability to match up with tight ends in man coverage. He has the best ball skills of any safety I’ve ever evaluated in college. He is also a threat to score every time he touches the ball. Against the run, he is quick to key, read and fill the alley. He does have some fly-by missed tackles, but overall he’s reliable in this area. Hooker has the potential to be one of the league’s best safeties very early in his NFL career.”
If having the best ball skills Jeremiah has ever seen isn’t enough for you, he’s been called “the next Ed Reed” by various people including former NFL scouts and Greg Schiano, who was Reed’s college defensive coordinator.
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Scouting Report On Malik Hooker
Strengths
• Ballhawk – Excellent tracker, good hands
• Range – Reads QBs’ eyes, covers a ton of ground
• Speed – Exceptional recovery speed, penetrates quickly
• Athleticism – Should test well
• Size – Good size for position
• Hips – Fluid transition in coverage
• Instincts – Excellent in coverage
Weaknesses
• Inexperience – 1-year playing the position
• Tackling – Drops head, stops feet
• Play fakes – Too often fooled by misdirection
• Run support – Willing, but not always effective (via NBC)
There’s only one legitimate concern about Hooker’s game. It’s his experience.
According to reports, Hooker didn’t even start playing football until his junior year in high school. Playing both WR and CB he earned a scholarship to Ohio State where he sat on the bench for the first two years learning behind Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell. After receiving an opportunity to start in 2016, Hooker had himself an All-American season. He was a unanimous All-American selection and led Ohio State’s absurd string of interceptions returned for a touchdown (seven) with three pick-sixes on the season. Hooker also had 74 tackles in 13 games. Here’s a pass deflection showing incredible range while getting out to the numbers.
The early reports on Hooker peg him as a low-floor, high-ceiling type player. He’s also young, athletic and predicted to be an early first-round pick making him an ideal match for Pace and the Bears. Chicago finished 29th in interceptions last season for crying out loud.
As much as the Bears want to fix the quarterback position, don’t expect Pace to take many high risks trying to do it. Especially risks like drastically overreaching for a quarterback at number three or trading the house for Jimmy Garoppolo. Those are the types of decisions that would put his job in jeopardy.
Obviously fixing the quarterback position is also his job. That is why some think trading back into the first round or targeting a player like Patrick Mahomes in the second could be better options for fulfilling the need.
Drafting this pure ball-hawking safety seemingly makes way more sense for winning more games now. He’s expected to be an impact player in the NFL on day one, and for those reasons Malik Hooker could easily be selected by the Chicago Bears come draft day.
