Tag: Brian Hoyer

AFC East offseason: Latest on Patriots’ QB situation post-Tom Brady

When the Patriots officially lost Brady, Jarrett Stidham and Cody Kessler were their only quarterback options on their roster.

With the start of free agency in the history books for the 2020 offseason, two of the biggest moves in the entire NFL came via the AFC East.

Of course, the Bills landed receiver Stefon Diggs via trade. In regard to signings, Tom Brady is now a former Patriots player, having signed for the Buccaneers. It’s a day that Bills fans were told was eventually going to come, but it took a lot longer than expected.

But the show goes on, and somebody is going to throw passes against the Bills defense in 2020 for the Patriots.

When the Patriots officially lost Brady, Jarrett Stidham and Cody Kessler were their only quarterback options on their roster. Stidham figures to be ahead of Kessler on the depth chart. Kessler is a career backup, but Stidhham only 2-for-4 passing in his career and a second-year pro.

The Patriots have since added a familiar face in one of their former backups, Brian Hoyer. He signed a one-year deal worth $1 million with the Patriots.

The 34-year-old veteran was drafted by the Patriots in 2009 and is on his third stint with the team. While an uninspiring move, Patriots Wire reports that Hoyer will very much be in the battle to be named the team’s starting quarterback. In fact, Hoyer also reportedly took less money from the Pats to be giving an opportunity. Hoyer has 38 career starts and a 16-22 overall record. Kessler is 2-10 in his career.

But that Patriots might not be done adding. Again via Patriots Wire, New England is looking toward the NFL Draft, even doing a deep dive into prospects now. Reportedly even “closely vetting” the lesser-known prospect in Florida International quarterback James Morgan.

The Bills will welcome any of these names with open arms, so long as they are not Brady.

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3 takeaways from the Patriots signing Brian Hoyer

Patriots signed Brian Hoyer, and there are some things to acknowledge.

An old friend has returned to Foxboro, as the Patriots signed quarterback Brian Hoyer to a one-year deal. This is Hoyer’s third stint with New England, and it may be his most important.

With Tom Brady in Tampa Bay, the Patriots enter a period of uncertainty at quarterback for the first time since the team drafted Drew Bledsoe with the first overall pick in 1993. The depth chart has three quarterbacks on it – Hoyer, Jarrett Stidham, and Cody Kessler – but no one knows who will get the call come the season opener.

New England made signing Hoyer a priority the moment he was released from Indianapolis. Here are three takeaways from the decision to re-sign him.

There will be multiple camp battles going on at quarterback this year.

It was virtually a guarantee that there was going to be a competition for the starting job in the 2020 edition of Patriots training camp. Stidham would’ve been in a battle with either a veteran coming in or a rookie that the Patriots drafted. Now, it appears there will be more than one.

According to Hoyer’s agent, Joe Linta, the Patriots offered Hoyer an opportunity to compete for the starting job. So, he will fill the role of the veteran competing with Stidham. However, if Stidham does win the job, there may be a second competition going on for the backup role. It doesn’t seem likely that New England keeps both Hoyer and Kessler as the veteran backup. One will have to win that job over the other.

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Report: Brian Hoyer took less money from Patriots for chance to start

Brian Hoyer plans to compete for the starting quarterback role in New England.

Tom Brady’s departure leaves an extremely large hole to fill for the New England Patriots.

With little cap space, they’re tasked to replace one of the greatest players to ever play — with a small pool to work with. The likely starter as of right now would be second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham, with Cody Kessler and newly signed Brian Hoyer competing for a backup role.

Hoyer, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $1 million, seems to have more expectations than just becoming a backup. The 34-year-old veteran was drafted by the Patriots in 2009 and is on his third stint with the team. Now that Brady’s out of the picture, Hoyer will fight for a starting role, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

“Agent Joe Linta, who I talked to after the deal happened, said Hoyer could have been offered $5 (million) or $6 million from another team, but he wanted to be in New England because they told him he would have the chance to compete for the starting job,” Rapoport said, transcribed by NESN’s Adam London. “So yes, Brian Hoyer, Jarrett Stidham and Cody Kessler are going to be battling it out for the starting quarterback position once held by Tom Brady. Of course, the Patriots could draft a quarterback as well, but we’re still a month from finding out that answer.”

Hoyer has only started 38 games in his 11-year career, but he knows everything about New England’s offense. If Stidham can’t get a grasp on the starting role by the beginning of the 2020 season, the Patriots would at least have a game manager with familiarity in the offense.

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Why Brian Hoyer is unlikely to serve as the Patriots’ starting QB

Will Brian Hoyer be the starter?

The New England Patriots added a quarterback to the depth chart on Sunday, but perhaps they didn’t add a starting quarterback. It’s fitting that in free agency, Bill Belichick allowed Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, to leave. And in exchange, Belichick welcomed Brian Hoyer on a one-year, $1 million deal.

Belichick is the king of anticlimax in the offseason, with a habit of signing unexciting or unknown players in free agency and then trading back in the draft. But he also converts boring offseasons into exciting regular seasons, which is why it’s hard to be a skeptic, even in an offseason when Belichick seems OK with swapping Brady for Hoyer, a journeyman whose career has included two stays in New England (2009-2011, 2017-2018).

The reasoning for signing Hoyer is simple: He’s an established veteran who knows how to run New England’s system. Maybe he’s not the most physically gifted or clutch quarterback. But he’s a serviceable backup, who has the potential to be a full-season starter in a pinch. From a salary cap standpoint, the Patriots are, indeed, in a bind. They were running out of cap space even before free agency started when they decided to re-sign Matthew Slater, Devin McCourty and Joe Thuney (franchise tag) while retaining Jason McCourty on a contract option. That left little money to spend on quarterback. So the Patriots are sticking with what they know: Jarrett Stidham, Hoyer and Cody Kessler. At least for now.

That’s likely to be the pecking order during training camp (if we have one during this COVID-19 pandemic). Hoyer may push Stidham for the starting job, but considering the Patriots preferred Stidham in 2019 — with Hoyer getting cut — it’s easy to imagine Stidham winning the job. Kessler may be able to push Hoyer in the role — Kessler’s starting statistics are arguably on par with Hoyer, and perhaps Kessler has dealt with more adverse conditions with the Jaguars and Browns.

Surely, the Patriots will open competition for the three quarterbacks. Hoyer is, most likely, an insurance plan against an injury to or a regression from Stidham. There is a chance the Patriots can land a veteran cap casualty like Andy Dalton and Cam Newton, who would save their teams big money, if cut. Maybe once they hit a saturated quarterback market, the Patriots could swoop on one of them. For now, however, the Patritos are probably content with the mix of experience and talent they have.

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Brian Hoyer can’t be the Patriots’ solution for QB. Right?

This can’t be it … can it? 

As of Monday morning, the New England Patriots will go into the 2020 season with three quarterbacks on the roster who could replace Tom Brady.

There’s Jarrett Stidham, the former Auburn QB they selected with a fourth-rounder in the 2019 draft. Next is Cody Kessler, the former Brown and Jaguar. Then there’s Brian Hoyer, the vet joining the Pats for a third stint after signing over the weekend.

That’s it? That’s it … for now.

There’s no former-notable-name-turned-reclamation project, despite there being a few on the market.

And I refuse to believe that Bill Belichick is satisfied with that.

Maybe he’s waiting until Cam Newton gets released instead of traded. Perhaps he’s prepared to make a deal to move up in the draft to take a rookie who he thinks can start right away. He could be secretly speaking to a team about making a trade that would work under the cap, although there’s this report that Cincinnati Bengals vet Andy Dalton isn’t a target at the moment:

Our Henry McKenna — who also covers the team for Patriots Wire — has detailed what Belichick’s Brady replacement plan could be, and he mentioned (before the Hoyer signing, which was a reported $1.05 million) that they have about $5 million in cap space before guard Joe Thuney signs his franchise tag. That doesn’t seem great for a position that demands a lot of money.

But I still can’t believe it’s all over.

For one, Belichick is a mad genius. If anyone can wiggle his way out of this cap situation with a trade that makes it all work or the right cuts, it’s him. Let’s also remember he’s turning 68 next month. Does he really want to have a transition year without Brady, something I assume will happen if he starts any of those three? I don’t know, but I would assume no.

If he doesn’t see any sign of stopping at the helm of the franchise, then perhaps he’s got a long-term plan in place like trading for Deshaun Watson next offseason.

This can’t be it … can it?

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Report: Patriots are signing QB Brian Hoyer

He’ll join the quarterback competition for 2020.

The New England Patriots are signing quarterback Brian Hoyer, according to multiple reports. The Indianapolis Colts released him on Saturday, not long after finalizing a deal with free agent quarterback Philip Rivers, who spent his entire career with the Chargers. Rivers is likely to start ahead of Jacoby Brissett, which made Hoyer expendable.

With Tom Brady heading to the Buccaneers in free agency, Hoyer will join a Patriots’ quarterback group, which includes Jarrett Stidham and Cody Kessler. Hoyer will be a third low-cost option for New England, as the veteran agreed to a one-year, $1 million deal, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

This will mark Hoyer’s third stint with the Patriots. They signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State in 2009. He left the team in 2011, and joined the Pittsburgh Steelers. After bouncing around the league, he served as the team’s backup in 2017 and 2018. Surely, he’ll be in the mix to serve as a starter in 2020. But as a career backup, he’ll likely have to compete for the starting job with Stidham and Kessler.

With the Colts in 2019, Hoyer completed 53.8 percent of his passes for 372 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.

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Former Michigan State quarterback Brian Hoyer signs with the New England Patriots

Hoyer is back with New England for the third time in his NFL career.

Brian Hoyer is back where it all began . . . again.

The former Michigan State signal caller has signed with the New England Patriots according to Jim McBride of the Boston Globe.

It will be Hoyer’s third stint with the Patriots after signing with the franchise as an undrafted rookie in 2009. Hoyer previously served as backup to former Patriot quarterback Tom Brady from 2009-2011 and 2078-2018. Hoyer never started a game in New England during his time there.

Hoyer was released by the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday after spending just one year with the team. He has also spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Chicago Bears, and the San Francisco 49ers during his 11-year NFL career.

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Report: Ex-Colts QB Brian Hoyer to sign with Patriots

Brian Hoyer going back to the Patriots.

The Indianapolis Colts released veteran backup quarterback Brian Hoyer on Saturday, but he will reportedly be joining his former team in the New England Patriots, per Jim McBride of the Boston Globe.

With Tom Brady leaving for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Colts signing Philip Rivers to a one-year deal, Hoyer became an option for the Patriots a day ago. They will be bringing in the veteran quarterback to compete in the room.

Hoyer was signed to the Colts after the retirement of Andrew Luck to be the backup to Jacoby Brissett. He played in two games while making one start. He filled in for Brissett when the latter injured his knee in Week 9. He showed a lot of promise given the three touchdowns he threw against the Steelers.

However, he struggled in the Week 10 loss against the Miami Dolphins when he wound up finishing with just one touchdown to three interceptions.

The Colts signed Rivers to a one-year deal and seem to be intent on keeping Brissett on the roster unless they are blown away by a trade offer.

Hoyer will now be joining the Patriots quarterback room with Jarrett Stidham, who was a fourth-round pick in 2019.

Colts release QB Brian Hoyer

Colts part ways with Brian Hoyer.

The Indianapolis Colts released quarterback Brian Hoyer, the team announced Saturday.

After signing quarterback Philip Rivers to a one-year deal worth $25 million and with Jacoby Brissett still on the roster, Hoyer became an expendable piece. Given the salary cap hit he carries into 2020, this was an expected move for the Colts.

Following the retirement of Andrew Luck just weeks before the 2019 season, Brissett became the starting quarterback. The Colts then needed to find a viable backup option seeing as Chad Kelly was the only other quarterback in the room. This led them to signing Hoyer, who had been released by the New England Patriots.

Hoyer only saw action in two games during the 2019 season. He filled in for Brissett after he left with a knee injury in Week 9 against the Steelers and outside of a pick-six in that game, he looked relatively solid.

However, the same cannot be said for his only start in 2019. Filling in for Brissett and taking on the lowly Miami Dolphins, Hoyer disappeared. He completed 18 of 39 passes for 204 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in a 16-12 loss.

With two quarterbacks on the roster taking up roughly $45 million in salary cap space, it was inevitable for Hoyer to be released.

Which Colts could be cut candidates this offseason?

The Colts don’t need cap money, but they could still part ways with these players.

Throughout the offseason, the Indianapolis Colts will be faced with tough decisions everywhere. That could include parting ways with some players currently on the roster as free agency and the 2020 NFL draft approaches.

During the offseason, a player is cut most of the time because of salary cap implications. Given how the Colts have operated over the last three years, they have enough salary-cap space to where they don’t need to release a player simply so they can free up some money.

Even with that said, there are a few players that are eligible candidates to be cut this offseason. Whether it’s because the Colts upgraded at their position or whether they’ve become an expendable piece, there are two Colts who have the most realistic chance of being let go this offseason.

Margus Hunt | DT | Age: 32

The first one comes in the form of the veteran from Estonia. Since being signed in 2017, Hunt has been a big part of the defensive line. He’s spent most of his time working on the interior and while he had some success in 2018, his time with the Colts could be coming to an end.

Hunt has just about everything working against him. He’s approaching his age-33 season. He was a big reason the interior defensive line was so unproductive in 2019 and there is a high chance the Colts invest heavily in a younger, more talented player at the position. The other part comes with his contract.

If the Colts part ways with Hunt before June 1, they will save $4 million, per Over The Cap. They won’t owe any money at all because of the way the Colts structured the contract.

Again, the Colts don’t need the money. But if and when they add to the position—which could be in free agency or early in the 2020 NFL draft—it might not be long until he’s gone.

Brian Hoyer | QB | Age: 34

This is contingent on whether the Colts bring in a quarterback. If they wind up going with a veteran like Philip Rivers, Hoyer’s contract is likely released that same day. The more likely option is that the Colts draft a quarterback in April.

There is a world where the Colts keep the rookie quarterback, Jacoby Brissett and Brian Hoyer all on the roster at the same time. But the Colts typically don’t like to carry three quarterbacks on the active roster—something they did for the second half of the 2019 season.

If the Colts take a quarterback in the first round of the draft, Hoyer could see his way out at some point during the preseason. It might be a different story if they wait to draft a quarterback later, because that rookie won’t be ready to step in if something happens to Brissett.

Cutting Hoyer before June 1 would net $2 million in dead salary cap but it would save $3 million.

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