Re-signing Brian Hoyer was a key step for the Patriots and Mac Jones
It wasn’t quite the biggest quarterback news of the last 24 hours, but on Monday morning the Patriots re-signed backup QB Brian Hoyer to a two-year, $4 million deal. This was just hours before Hoyer was set to hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent with the beginning of the NFL’s legal tampering period.
Hoyer’s role is a key one, even if he rarely sets foot on the field on gameday. The 36-year-old played a big role in helping to develop rookie quarterback Mac Jones last year, as Jones told reporters during the season.
“I think it’s really amazing. Brian’s been a really close friend of mine since I’ve gotten here, and I know he’s older than me, and he might be closer in age to his son, Garrett, but he’s still a really good mentor,” Jones said in October. “He’s super supportive of me and trying to help me in any way he can. He’s hard on me sometimes, which is good, so he holds me to a high standard, and then he also has fun and enjoys the game. He’s been around for a long time…I’m just happy to be able to learn from him and just be in the same room as him.”
Head coach Bill Belichick was also complementary of Hoyer as a sort of player-coach for Jones when asked about the relationship between the two a few days later. “Brian’s done a real good job of that. Of course, as you mentioned, he’s been in the system longer than anybody else as a player and knows the offense extremely well,” Belichick explained. “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.”
“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,” Belichick continued. “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.”
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Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at [email protected].
