As the Detroit Lions survey the landscape of draft prospects, they’ve been mentioned as a team with interest in an older, under the radar signal caller.
The Detroit Lions have acknowledged the need to consider what their quarterback future after Jared Goff might look like, and the idea they’ll take a quarterback in April’s draft is very prominent. The question may be more “when” than “if” at this point.
As the Pro Day and in-house visit circuit rolls on over the next month, the Lions should turn over as many stones as possible when it comes to homework on the incoming quarterback prospects. Indeed they were at BYU’s Pro Day last week, with a quarterback among the players teams were there to see.
Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network specifically mentioned the Lions, along with the Vikings, Seahawks and Colts, as teams with interest in quarterback Jaren Hall.
Quarterback Jaren Hall had an outstanding throwing session today. He threw more than 50 passes, and many of them had a high degree of difficulty. Hall wasn’t just accurate — he displayed pinpoint pass placement and drove deep passes downfield with speed. The criticism from scouts after the Combine centered on Hall’s footwork dropping into the pockets from center and setting himself to throw.
Detroit Lions 2023 NFL Draft: Who is Jaren Hall?
Hall started 22 games at BYU over the last two seasons, with a touchdown-to-interception ratio over 4:1 (51 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions) over that span. He gets overall props from draft analysts for his poise, polish, accuracy and mobility, as he adds something with his legs.
The knocks on Hall are his size (6-foot, 207 pounds at the NFL Combine), and his age (25). Pauline mentioned that his age is not too big a concern for NFL teams, since more quarterbacks are regularly playing well into their 30s, he comes across great in interviews and is a “mature 25-year old married man.”
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com has Gardner Minshew as a comp for Hall, which seems apt. He is widely regarded as a late Day 2 or early Day 3 draft pick.
Hall’s NFL ceiling seems to be as a capable backup, just like Minshew, which could lead to him having a fairly long career. Ideally, the Lions would aim higher for their possible successor to Goff in this draft. But as part of doing some due diligence on everyone, Hall may have something to work with and is broadly an interesting prospect.