Three years after many Titans fans wanted to draft him, quarterback Hendon Hooker is finally a member of the team.
The Titans signed the former University of Tennessee standout Wednesday, along with running back Michael Carter and wide receivers K.J. Osborn and Lance McCutcheon.
Hooker becomes the fourth quarterback on the Titans’ roster, joining Cam Ward, Mitchell Trubisky and Will Levis.
The 6-3, 220-pound Hooker had a tremendous two-year run for the Vols in 2021 and 2022, throwing for a combined 6,080 yards and 58 touchdowns versus just five interceptions. He also ran 270 times for 1,046 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Hooker tore an ACL near the end of the 2022 season, his last year with UT, but still finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. He was named the SEC’s offensive player of the year in 2022 and was a first-team All-SEC selection.
Plenty of Titans and Vols fans wanted Tennessee to draft Hooker in 2023, but the Titans — in need of a quarterback — opted instead for Levis, choosing the former Kentucky standout with the 33rd overall selection.
Drafted in the third round by Detroit instead, Hooker hasn’t seen the field often in the NFL.
He spent 2023 recovering from the ACL injury, and in 2024 appeared in three games with Detroit, completing six-of-nine passes for 62 yards.
After Detroit waived Hooker at the end of training camp in 2025, he was signed to Carolina’s practice squad and later to the New York Jets’ practice squad.
Hooker will be fourth on the Titans’ quarterback depth chart, but could move up to third if Tennessee trades Levis. Supplanted as starter by Ward in 2025, Levis missed that entire season after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder.
Titans General Manager Mike Borgonzi praised Levis earlier this week at the NFL league meetings in Arizona.
“I think you can’t have enough good quarterbacks in the room,” Borgonzi told reporters. “Will has been great. He has been in there working out and I know he is ready to go, feels healthy. I think everyone has a clean slate in terms of the back-ups there.”
Carter, a fourth-round pick of the New York Jets in 2021, played for Titans head coach Robert Saleh from 2021-2023, when Saleh was the Jets’ head coach.
The 5-8, 201-pound back has played five years in the NFL, totaling 418 rushes for 1,692 yards (4.0-yard average) and nine touchdowns. He has also proven a reliable receiving option out of the backfield, catching 145 passes for 1,038 yards (7.2-yard average) and one touchdown.
Carter spent last season with Arizona, carrying 92 times for 333 yards (3.6-yard average) and one touchdown, while catching 33 passes for 267 yards (8.1-yard average).
Osborn, a five-year veteran, was a fifth-round pick by Minnesota in 2020.
From 2021-23, the 5-11, 203-pound former Miami Hurricane standout posted at least 48 catches and at least 500 receiving yards each year, totaling a combined 15 touchdown receptions as well.
But Osborn has notched just seven receptions combined over the past two seasons. He spent 2024 with both New England and Washington, and then spent most of last year with Atlanta’s practice squad.
The 6-3, 202-pound McCutcheon, who played college ball at Montana State, spent time with the Titans last season after previous stints with the Rams, Houston, the Jets and Pittsburgh.