Veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer has agreed to return on a 2-year deal with $3 million guaranteed. Retaining Hoyer, who served as Mac Jones’ primary backup last season, was seen as critical after the loss of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and three other offensive assistants to Las Vegas. Hoyer, 35, spent the past two seasons in New England, his third stint with the team.
He went 9-of-11 for 227 yards and a touchdown last season in mop-up duty. In late October, Bill Belichick praised Hoyer’s work mentoring young players, including Jones.
“Brian’s done a real good job of that. Of course, he’s been in the system longer than anybody else as a player and knows the offense extremely well,” Belichick said. “It’s one thing, as a coach, to coach the players and all that, but in the end, it’s always helpful to have somebody who has actually played it be able to also talk about it because, as a player, you get told a lot of things, and as an experienced player, you can sometimes help the younger players with understanding what’s really important and what to put at the top of the list.
Belichick continued: “Brian, in particular, I think has been extremely good with Garrett [Gilbert], Jarrett [Stidham], and Mac [Jones] on giving coaching points on either plays, situations, cadence, you name it, and kind of to help move the important stuff up to the top. Not that everything isn’t important, but there are some things you’ve really got to take care of first, and he’s done a nice job of that.”
Since joining the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2009, he has started for seven different teams, the second-most among NFL quarterbacks.