Shanahan, Hoyer giving it another go
Before they recently reconnected, Brian Hoyer and Kyle Shanahan’s only season together came with the Browns in 2014. It didn’t go well. In fact, this was part of Shanahan’s sales pitch before the quarterback signed a two-year contract with the 49ers in March: Brian, you’re not coming to Cleveland.
“The situation in Cleveland was a joke,” Hoyer said. “Really, a circus. To me, that was one of the things when I first came in here. Kyle was like: ‘We’re not going to have any of that B.S. You’re coming in and you get to be the guy.’ ”
Hoyer, 31, will be a season-opening starter for the third time in the past four seasons when the 49ers host the Panthers on Sunday. But this start
will come with the security he’s never enjoyed during a seventeam, eight-year career.
That is, Hoyer is The Guy with the 49ers. In previous seasons, others had eyes for another guy besides Hoyer.
In 2014, with Cleveland, Hoyer beat out rookie Johnny Manziel. But the front office was eager for the undisciplined first-round pick to supplant him, which happened late in the season.
In 2015, with Houston, Hoyer was benched during the season opener for Ryan Mallett. Later in the season, after Hoyer won back his job and Mallett had been released, head coach Bill O’Brien told his team it had been a mistake to yank Hoyer.
Now, after spending 2016 as a backup with the Bears, Hoyer is looking squarely ahead, instead of over his shoulder.
“I just think Brian’s in a good place,” said Shanahan, the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2014. “... I think he’s got to the point where he realizes he can’t control everything, and he just works as hard as he can and doesn’t get too high or too low. I think he believes in himself and I think it’s real because he’s developed a confidence through adversity — through overcoming it.”
He dealt with adversity with the Browns in 2014, a season which began well. Hoyer, a Cleveland native, led the Browns to their best start (7-4) since 1994 before throwing four interceptions and no touchdown passes in back-to-back losses and getting benched in favor of Manziel.
The Browns lost their final five games, and Manziel entered an alcohol treatment facility after the season and hasn’t played in the NFL since 2015.
After the season, some of the Browns’ dysfunction came to light. General manager Ray Farmer was suspended for the first four games of 2015 for sending texts to the sideline to question play-calling and the use of personnel during games. Shanahan was granted a release from the final two years of his contract after he presented head coach Mike Pettine with 32 reasons why he should be allowed to resign.
Hoyer, who tore his ACL in October 2013, said he was mostly a spectator in offseason practices before the 2014 season and he didn’t think the reasons were health-related.
“I was convinced they were doing that so they could give Johnny every (chance),” Hoyer said. “… You weren’t always worried about football. You were worried about the other things surrounding it. I was able to come (to the 49ers) because of this situation.”
Hoyer has since tried to tune out what he can’t control. He’s worked with a sports phycologist employed by the team during his stints with the Texans in 2015 and the Bears last year. With the 49ers, he’s become involved with Vision Pursue, a performance mindset company whose co-owner, Russ Rausch, visited the 49ers four times during the offseason. Hoyer has incorporated meditation into his routine.
“It’s helped me kind of be in the moment,” Hoyer said. “Be mindful of where you’re at. Don’t worry about the past. Don’t worry about the future … When you’re a quarterback, all you’re thinking about is football. So when I’m at home, I try to be at home and be present with my family. And when I’m at (work), I’m focused on that. That’s really helped me.”
The mindfulness talk inspired a question: Was Hoyer’s performance in a 30-0 wild card loss to Chiefs in January 2016 partly due to pressure? Hoyer threw a career-high four interceptions and had a careerworst passer rating (15.9) in his only playoff start.
“To me, you just chalk it up to a bad day,” Hoyer said. “The next day (Arizona’s) Carson Palmer threw five interceptions. No one asked him about that. S— happens. The best thing for me is that I got a chance to play last year and prove that that’s not who I am.”
Last year, Hoyer threw six touchdown passes, no interceptions and had 300-yard games in each of his four full starts before he broke his arm. He’s had a stellar touchdown-tointerception ratio (25-7) the past two seasons after leading the NFL in yards per completion (13.7) with the Browns in 2014.
This season, he’d like to replicate that part of his Browns’ experience, but skip the circus.
“I trusted Kyle that I could come in here and try to be as good as I could be every day,” Hoyer said. “And that it was all about football. It wasn’t about all the other stuff.” Injury report: Safety Jimmie Ward (hamstring) is doubtful to play Sunday. Tight end George Kittle (hamstring) and defensive end Aaron Lynch (back) are questionable.