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The New England Patriots and Bill Belichick clearly value Brian Hoyer.
According to the Boston Globe’s Jim McBride, the team agreed to re-sign the 35-year-old veteran.
Terms of the deal weren’t immediately available, but Hoyer now becomes the fourth quarterback under contract on the Patriots’ roster. Hoyer joins Cam Newton, rookie Mac Jones, and third-year-pro Jarrett Stidham.
Hoyer spent last season with the Patriots in what kicked off his fourth stint with the team. Hoyer played in just one game for the Patriots in 2020, and it wasn’t a great night.
Hoyer started in place of Newton in the team’s Week 4 meeting with the Kansas City Chiefs. Newton was out after testing positive for COVID-19, and Hoyer struggled mightily in the first half before being benched in favor of Stidham.
Before giving way to Stidham, Hoyer completed 15 of 24 passes with no touchdowns and an egregious interception. Hoyer was seemingly in the team’s doghouse after the performance as he wasn’t active for most of the games toward the end of the season.
Bringing him back into the fold sparked many questions from the media, considering the somewhat unusual depth at quarterback.
Twitter Reacts to Hoyer Signing
Most attributed Hoyer’s signing to the Jones preparation effort. The young quarterback is expected to be the Patriots’ quarterback of the future. Hoyer is the kind of veteran who can offer a helping hand to a rookie signal-caller trying to learn the Patriots system.
NESN’s Doug Kyed wonders why the Patriots would need a fourth quarterback:
Because of Hoyer’s time with the franchise, he may know it from a quarterback’s perspective better than any player not named Tom Brady.
NBC 10 Boston’s Adam Kaufmann also sees Hoyer’s experience in the offense as a plus for Jones’ development.
Kaufmann followed up the tweet above with this one that implies Stidham’s spot on the roster could be in jeopardy.
Patriots Salary Cap expert Miguel Bezan explains, Hoyer’s presence isn’t as strange and it isn’t necessarily as foreboding as it may seem for Stidham.
CLNS’ Evan Lazar added even more perspective.
The only problem with this comparison, at least as it pertains to Stidham’s job security, is that Brian Lewerke didn’t make the Week 1 roster for the Patriots. Also, the Patriots have rarely carried four quarterbacks on their roster during the Belichick era.
It seems unlikely all four would be on the roster, and quite honestly, it would make sense for Stidham to be the odd man out..
Trading Stidham Makes Sense, if Possible
By drafting Jones in the first round and re-signing Newton, the Patriots sent a clear message they didn’t believe in Stidham to be their quarterback of the present or future.
Bringing Hoyer seems to imply they don’t even see Stidham as a valuable veteran voice or presence in the position room. None of this does a great deal to raise his value on the trade market, but New England may as well find out if a team would part ways with a sixth or seventh-round pick for Stidham.
Besides that, he could find himself released with Jones sandwiched between Newton and Hoyer on the Patriots’ depth chart.
Also Read:
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- Patriots Made a Mistake Not Drafting 6’4 ‘Burner’
- Wild Trade Proposal Would Land Patriots Julio Jones
