Brian Hoyer to visit New England Patriots on Wednesday for potential Tom Brady backup role

Talk about a perfect example of turning lemons into lemonade. The San Francisco 49ers released quarterback Brian Hoyer after acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo on Tuesday, and it is not taking long for Hoyer to find a new home. ESPN’s Field Yates is reporting Hoyer has a visit planned with the New England Patriots on Wednesday morning, and the expectation is he will be signing with the team.

When the 49ers and Patriots were agreeing to terms on the Garoppolo trade, Hoyer was initially part of the deal. However, the teams had to remove Hoyer from the deal because it would have cost the Patriots a fourth round comp pick. Had Hoyer been transferred from the 49ers to the Patriots directly, it would have been like he had signed with the Patriots all along for comp pick purposes. His contract had a fifth round comp pick value. The Patriots have two fourth round comp picks and a seventh round comp pick. Hoyer would have cancelled out one of those fourth round picks.

The move is not a surprising one for the Patriots. They currently have one quarterback on their roster. That quarterback happens to be really good, but if he gets hurt, they need somebody other than Julian Edelman to fill in. Hoyer began his career in New England, signing as a UDFA in 2009, and departing after the Patriots cut him at the end of 2012 training camp.

There are better quarterbacks on the open market, well, one at least, but naturally the Patriots will go with the low key option to put in place behind Brady. Hoyer got a great opportunity with the 49ers. It was a bad team, but it was an offense he was familiar with, and he was the undisputed starter initially. Things went south in a hurry, and heading back to New England to serve as Tom Brady’s backup is about as ideal a second opportunity as I can imagine.