Hoyer back with Pats for 3rd time
Also add Copeland to fill hole at LB
He’s back. Again. Former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer agreed to a one-year free agent contract with the Pats on Sunday, sources confirmed to the Herald. Hoyer received his release from Indianapolis on Saturday in a cap-saving move. This will be Hoyer’s third stint with the team.
Hoyer signed with the Colts after becoming a cutdown day casualty in New England last September.
Last season, Hoyer completed 53.8% of his passes for 372 yards, four touchdowns and four picks. He started one of his four game appearances in Indianapolis, where he served as the primary backup to Jacoby Brissett. The career journeyman now figures to provide competition for Jarrett Stidham, who beat him out last summer to become Tom Brady’s backup for the 2019 season.
Over his two prior stints in New England, Hoyer’s stat line read: 32 of 51 for 335 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
The Pats originally signed the 34-year-old as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State in 2009. Three years later, Hoyer began a stretch of starting for five different franchises until the Patriots signed him as a free agent midway through the 2017 season.
During his time with the Patriots, Hoyer drew praise from his teammates and the coaching staff for his ability to help the team prepare as a scout team quarterback.
Hoyer now joins Stidham and Cody Kessler in the Pats’ quarterbacks room, likely making Stidham the favorite to start under center in 2020.
The Patriots also reached a one-year deal with former Jets linebacker Brandon Copeland on Sunday, per a league source. The five-year veteran should help fill the voids left by the departures of linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins in free agency. Copeland posted 42 tackles, 1.5 sacks, three QB hits and a forced fumble last season, when he was limited to a dozen games for violating the league’s PEDs policy.
As an undrafted free agent in 2013, Copeland first enjoyed brief stints in Baltimore and Tennessee before ultimately sticking with the Lions for two seasons and then joining the Jets in 2018. The 28-year-old immediately enjoyed a career year, collecting a career-high five sacks as a situational edge rusher. Copeland played his best game of 2019 against the Patriots, per Pro Football Focus, and played almost half his snaps in run defense.
He checks in at 6-foot-3 and 263 pounds.
Copeland is also a graduate of the renowned Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania’s business school. Copeland once estimated he spends only 10-15% of his game checks.
Last January, he won the NFLPA’s highest honor, the Alan Page Community Award, which recognizes a player who “demonstrates a profound dedication to positively impacting” his community and others across the country.
Terms of his new deal are not yet known.