Tag Archives: Brian Hoyer

What The Patriots Have Invested At Quarterback Entering 2019

The New England Patriots’ quarterback room nears the summer break with two locks.

One of those locks is coming off his sixth Super Bowl victory and is scheduled to carry a cap number of $27 million into the final year of his contract with a base salary of $14 million. As for the other lock? That’d be the 11th QB New England has selected since Bill Belichick returned to the war room as head coach in 2000.

Tom Brady and Jarrett Stidham are eras apart. Now they find themselves in the same one.

Both will celebrate birthdays this August, with the former turning 42 and the latter turning 23. Both will be on the active roster this September, with Brady entering his 20th NFL season and Stidham entering his first. But for every commonality there is a contrast. Be it pre-star or five-star recruit. Be it Michigan or Auburn product. Be it No. 199 or No. 133 overall draft pick.

Time will tell whether there is company.

New England has entrusted a rookie as Brady’s lone understudy twice over the past decade. In 2009, Michigan State undrafted free agent Brian Hoyer found himself the second and final quarterback on the roster. And in 2014, Eastern Illinois second-round pick Jimmy Garoppolo became the next following Ryan Mallett’s trade to the Houston Texans on cutdown day.

It’s possible such a scenario could play out again.

Hoyer, who has been around the league and back, will have to put his experience above Stidham’s projection. But the Patriots have shown confidence in numbers when it comes to the 33-year-old Hoyer. He has an upcoming base salary of $2.8 million, a cap number of $3 million and $1.5 million guaranteed remaining on his deal.

That reflects the strong roster outlook of a veteran backup who has started 36 career games. Hoyer has appeared in 10 games since returning to Patriots in the fall of 2017, and gone 5-of-8 passing for 49 yards with 15 kneel-downs in the process.

Original content by Forbes.com

Patriots Lose In Third Preseason Game

While some players looked good, the Panthers cruised by the Patriots for a 25-14 win during the third week of preseason.

The Carolina Panthers were in control throughout the entire game, on both sides of the ball. Luke Kuechly recorded 7 tackles in the first half alone, helping to limit the somewhat Patriot offense to 3 first half points. Cam Newton looked solid completing 11 for 17 passes and throwing for 142 yards. Garrett Gilbert completed 5 for 9 passes for a mere 46 yards and a touchdown.

Tom Brady looked like his usual midseason form completing 12 for 18 passes and 102 yards. Brian Hoyer completed 16 for 24 passes and 109 yards. The run game did not look stunning. Mike Gillislee had 10 rushing attempts for 35 yards with a long of 15.Jeremy Hill didn’t shine tonight rushing for 9 attempts with only 25 yards to show for it. His longest run was 7 yards.

Riley McCarron showed up to play tonight, catching 4 of his 5 targets, hauling in 49 receiving yards. Devin Lucien missed his only target of the contest, recording no stats tonight. With the depleting wide receiver core getting smaller, there is little room for mistakes in making the final roster.

Although the game didn’t end in a victory The team held in there. After the game, head coach Bill Belichick was his usual self after a loss, quiet, focused on the practices and game ahead, while also congratulating Coach Rivera and company on a game well played.

Jason McCourty got some reps in at safety during the game. After expressing his interest in playing the position last year as a member of the Cleveland Browns. The new Patriot and twin brother of longtime team member Devin McCourty should be a dangerous conerback/safety mix this season.

How these performances will translate towards final cuts will soon be determined. Keep it here on Bostonsportsextra.com for all your latest patriots news and rumors before the season starts!

Patriots Training Camp Preview: Quarterback

With Patriots training camp approaching on July 26th, there are many different players on this team from last year. The Pats acquired four guys from trade, fifteen from free agency, and nine from the NFL Draft. They also lost nine players from trade and free agency and had three players retire.

In this new series, I will be looking at every player from each position leading up to training camp. For this part of the series I will talk about the most important position on the field: Quarterback. Quarterback has been the most consistent position for the Patriots since 2001. Ever since Tom Brady got his first start in 2001, the Patriots had only had four Quarterbacks start for them (Bledsoe, Cassel, Garoppolo, Brissett). The Patriots are bringing in three QB’s to training camp this year.

Tom Brady #12 (2000-Present):

Tom Brady is entering his 19th season for the Patriots where he has had a very successful career. He is a 5-time Super Bowl Winner, 3-time NFL MVP, 4-time Super Bowl MVP, and 13-time Pro-Bowler. Brady for his entire career has had 66,159 pass yards, 488 TD, 160 INT, and a record of 196-55-0. One of Tom’s MVP’s seasons came last year where he amassed 4,577 pass yards, 32 TD, and 8 INT.

He led the Patriots all the way to the Super Bowl where the ultimately came up short to the Eagles. Tom has been one of the main reasons as to why the Patriots are consistently in the Super Bowl.

Brady, who will be 41 at the start of the season, has shown no signs of slowing down yet. Expectations for him are still very high. Every year, it is expected that the Patriots will win a Super Bowl and it is expected that Brady will lead them there.

The verdict is that Tom Brady will 100% be on the Patriots 2018 roster.

Brian Hoyer #2 (2009-2011, 2017-Present)

Brian Hoyer was the Patriots backup QB for the last half of the 2017-2018 season. He began his season in San Francisco where he started six games. Hoyer went 0-6 in those six games and had a stat line of 1,287 pass yards, 5 total touchdowns, and 4 INTs. He ended up getting released by the 49ers after San Francisco traded for former Pat’s QB Jimmy Garappolo.

After getting released by the 49ers, the Patriots signed him for the rest of the season due to only having one QB on the roster. This would be the second stint in New England after being drafted by the team in 2009. Hoyer was part of the 2011 Patriots that went on to win the AFC Championship. Brian has only appeared in eighteen games in his four years with New England with him, and a stat line of 328 pass yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 INT.

Once he left the Pats in 2011, he had a very solid few seasons in Cleveland. In his first year for the Browns, he started three games and went 3-0 with 615 pass yards, 5 TD, and 3 INT. He then started 13 games for Cleveland where he had a record of 7-6 and 3,326 pass yards 12 TD, and 13 INT. His next season would come in Houston under his former offensive coordinator, Bill O’Brien. He had his best statistical season where he had a record of 5-4, 2,606 pass yards, 19 pass TD, and 7 INT. This would be his last season in Houston though. He then had an uneventful season in Chicago and then went to San Francisco.

Brian Hoyer is a very solid option as a backup quarterback to Tom Brady. He has been in the league for a long time and has some quality experience as a starter. Overall, Hoyer will most likely be the backup to Tom Brady for the upcoming season.

Danny Etling (Rookie):

With the 219th pick in the NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select Danny Etling, QB, LSU. With all the rumors going around about the Patriots selecting a quarterback early to be the predecessor to Brady, they waited all the way until the seventh round. Etling was kind of a surprise pick with him not being rated higher than a lot of undrafted QBs.

Etling started his college career at Purdue where he appeared in thirteen games over the span of two seasons. In those thirteen games, he had 2,490 pass yards, 16 pass TD, and 12 INT. He would then transfer to LSU where he played two seasons. Over those two seasons, he played 24 games and had 4,586 pass yards, 27 pass TD, and 7 INT. His senior season at LSU was his best season in college. He appeared in thirteen games and threw for 2,463 pass yards 16 pass TD, and 2 INT.

Danny Etling, 23, will most likely be a project for the Patriots. He will not be a quality backup right away, but he has potential. I believe the Patriots will keep Etling on the practice squad on the upcoming season to learn from Brady and Hoyer.

The position of quarterback for the Patriots has always been the most consistent since Brady took over, and not much looks to change this year.