Austin Hooper landed in high fantasy-football cotton Sunday after trucking a Bears defensive back on his way to an NFL record, and yes, the fantasy value of his 88-yard touchdown reception was real to the Falcons’ second-year pro.
That was the longest touchdown ever scored by a tight end in the NFL’s first week, a bona-fide super-duper Hooper moment.
More important, after Hooper became the second-highest scoring tight end in fantasy football with 20.8 points in the Falcons’ 23-17 win in Chicago, he reveled home style as text messages and phone calls rolled in with speed.
“My family and friends, a lot of them had me on their fantasy, and they were happy that I went off for them,” he said. “It was just cool to get calls from my family and friends, to know that they were watching.”
That Hooper “went off” might be considered either a surprise or predictable.
He was targeted just twice in the game, his 15th regular-season contest as an NFL player, yet caught both for a combined 128 yards. Add that score, the fourth of his young career, and only one tight end in the NFL ended up more productive on the fantasy scale last week.
Pittsburgh’s Jesse James, not the noted gunslinger from the distant past, caught six passes for 41 yards and two scores as the Steelers beat the Browns 21-18. That was good for 22.1 points.
Falcons brass could say they saw this coming. They drafted Hooper in the third round last year, intrigued as much by the 6-foot-4, 248-pounder’s athletic ability as his brain.
The guy went to Stanford, after all, and even though he played only two seasons for the Cardinal after redshirting in 2013, the Falcons’ scouting staff saw something special in him after he caught 40 passes in ’14 and 34 more in ’15, when he earned first team All-Pac-12 honors.
Hooper sees holes in the secondary, lines up great block angles on stretch running plays, and routinely finds ways to help the Falcons, even without the ball in his hands.
His teammates see it, too, as Hooper is particularly diligent in preparation, now even more than before. He’s a big fella already, and growing.
“I think his approach off the field, in the meeting room, that’s where I’ve noticed the most how focused he is on really knowing our scheme, our playbook and our game plan, but also knowing the team that we’re going against,” fellow Falcons tight end Levine Toilolo said. “He’s done a great job of preparing.”
The Falcons’ tight end room might be considered young, as Hooper is in his second NFL season, Toilolo his fifth and Eric Saubert his first, but they feel good about each other.
“I learned so much just from the older guys and watching film with coach (Wade) Harman. I think there’s been huge growth,” Saubert said. “There’s still a long way to go, but I think just in those four preseason games I learned so much about this game and things I can do to improve.”
Hooper is still learning, too, yet he feels much more comfortable on the field now than a year ago.
“I learned a lot from my rookie year,” he said, speaking of a season in which he played in the first 14 games, catching 19 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns.
“I’ve had the ability to see the same installs now three, four times, been part of an offseason process, and now I’m more worried about the defense, not just worried about what I’m doing and where I’m going.”
Hooper went just about right over Quintin Demps, throwing one of the great stiff arms in recent memory on the way to the 88-yard touchdown catch and run that gave the Falcons a 20-10 lead with 11:55 left in the fourth quarter.
Spectacular as that play was, it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
After missing the final two regular-season games last year with a knee injury, Hooper returned for the postseason, and in the Super Bowl against the Patriots he caught three passes for 32 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown.
He began the season ranked as the No. 21-most valuable fantasy football tight end by Sporting News, and going into Sunday night’s game against the Packers he climbed to No. 13 according to fantasypros.com.
Maybe people should play closer attention.
Hooper’s 100 percent catch rate this season (two targets, two catches) may not be sustainable, but his high success rate is not a reach. Last season, he caught 70.4 percent of the balls thrown his way (19 receptions on 27 targets).
He’s not counting on making 88-yard touchdown catches routinely, as tight ends very rarely pull in such plays, but Hooper feels good about what’s coming to him and his teammates.
“We’ll have an explosive offense,” he said. “Whoever gets those long passes will make sure they do something with it when they get it.”
About the Author
