Brought to Las Vegas after considering retirement last year, Brian Hoyer took a backseat after Josh McDaniels’ midseason firing. As the Raiders attempt to revamp their quarterback room, it will no longer include the veteran backup.
The Raiders are releasing Hoyer, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets. This will precede Jimmy Garoppolo‘s upcoming release, severing ties with the ex-Patriots wing of the Raiders’ QB room. Aidan O’Connell will remain with the team, as three years remain on the fourth-rounder’s rookie contract.
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A complex Raiders QB year featured some notable Hoyer cameos. Despite being brought aboard in April, Hoyer needed to work as the team’s first-stringer during much of the offseason program due to Garoppolo’s foot surgery. Garoppolo was not initially believed to have needed surgery, but McDaniels announced the operation last May. This led to the then-37-year-old Hoyer taking reps as Garoppolo rehabbed.
Garoppolo missed two games due to injury during his starter portion of the season. While McDaniels initially summoned O’Connell as the replacement, the coach changed course when Garoppolo missed another game and started Hoyer. The former McDaniels Patriots charge was ineffective in an ugly loss to the Bears, though he did replace Garoppolo the previous week and help the Raiders hold off the Patriots. Hoyer did not play again after the Raiders’ 30-12 loss to the Bears.
The Raiders guaranteed most of Hoyer’s two-year, $4.5MM contract; that will bring some dead money for the now-Antonio Pierce-led team. Las Vegas will take on $2.6MM in dead cap due to the Hoyer release. This could conceivably wrap a long-running career for Hoyer, who served as the starter for the Browns and Texans during a productive mid-2010s stretch. For the most part, Hoyer has been a backup during his career.
Prior to coming to the Raiders, the Cleveland-area native missed much of the 2022 season due to a concussion. Hoyer also was part of the Bill Belichick-Mac Jones back-and-forth that year, expressing frustration at the team’s widely panned decision to give Matt Patricia play-calling duties. At 38, Hoyer is the second-oldest active quarterback; only Aaron Rodgers (40) is older. Hoyer has been in the NFL since coming into the league as a 2009 UDFA.
Hoyer’s salary was fully guaranteed, they are only saving about $90k on the cap cutting him. Crazy that they are that desperate to get rid of all the ex-Pats guys although I understand it. That Patriots way stuff only worked with Brady at the helm. Didn’t work in Detroit, Vegas, or NE after Brady left. People can hate the generals orders as long as they respect their captain. If there is no good peer-level leader that looks out for you, the Patriots Way doesn’t work.
Hoyer is almost AARP eligible
And yet he’s still not only employable, but arguably better than the current backups on at least a couple of teams.
Given the number of offensive systems he’s gotten a look at I would also think he would be a potential coaching assistant if he wanted to pursue that career path.
I know as a Steeler fan that, even though he never appeared in a game for them and spent less than a month with them way back in 2012, teammates were raving about his preparedness, professionalism, etc. If I remember right, Big Ben and either Byron Leftwich or Charlie Batch were both hurt, so Homer was signed to be the backup for a few weeks. Once they were all healthy, the Steelers were seriously considering trying to figure out a way to keep all 4 just because of how much they liked Hoyer’s potential as well as his help on the sidelines.
Sign a deal with panthers, behind Bryce and Dalton. Easy money
Culture
He’s the new starting QB for your New England Patriots! Warm up those Duck Boats. We’re gonna have a parade!