Now, I know I haven't been posting on a regular schedule recently, but I just saw something striking enough that it deserves its own post: Brian Hoyer will start for the Browns this weekend.
Now, I know this seems trivial. But Hoyer has had a very weird career path, and he's starting for Cleveland this week over former Oakland and Washington starter Jason Campbell, so something must be up.
Hoyer played his college football at Michigan State, where he was a decent, not outstanding, quarterback prospect. As a result of this being the popular opinion, Hoyer went undrafted. The Patriots, who lacked a consistent backup quarterback, signed him. This was not unusual. What was unusual was when New England chose him as their sole backup to Brady, releasing a list of quarterbacks that reads like a Who's Who of mediocre third-string quarterbacks: Matt Gutierrez, Andrew Walter and Kevin O'Connell. It was an unusual decision, with the Bernard Pollard ankle injury debacle still fresh in the Patriots' minds. Hoyer played a couple times over the next few seasons, but the Patriots drafted Ryan Mallett in the 2011 draft, and next season, Hoyer was cut.
As a backup who had performed well behind Tom Brady, you would expect a lot of interest in Hoyer, but...
The Steelers signed him to back up Charlie Batch and released him two and a half weeks later. Then, by a bizarre turn of events, he found himself starting for the Cardinals in Week 17, his first career start. Apparently, the Cardinals had had their fill of Kevin Kolb, John Skelton and Ryan Lindley, who all seemed to be injured at various points in the season and all seemed to be equally awful. Hoyer was at best mediocre, going 19/34 for 225 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Pretty good, though, for a game in which William Powell was Arizona's leading rusher and Larry Fitzgerald had two receptions.
Remember those Cardinals quarterbacks from earlier? Yeah, all of them are gone except for Lindley. Including Hoyer, who was released in May and signed a week later by the Browns, who didn't really need him. Jason Campbell was slated to be their backup.
Fast forward to August. Brandon Weeden has a solid preseason. People think that he may actually be a solid quarterback for Cleveland this season, on a team that already has Trent Richardson entrenched in the starting running back role. Expectations are high, at least by the Browns' standards. And Hoyer may not even make the roster.
Fast forward to September. Hoyer's slipped onto Cleveland's roster as the third-stringer. Weeden is looking like he did a year ago. And then, he sprains his thumb. New coach Rob Chudzinski sends in Jason Campbell, but...
Today, Brian Hoyer was announced as the Browns' starter for Week 3 against the Vikings. This is his fourth team in two years and likely the last chance he'll get to start in an NFL game. That is, unless he can impress.
I don't know about you, but I'm picking up the Vikings defense.
(Some information comes from various sources.)
