Conventional wisdom says that Brian Hoyer was not signed by the 49ers the offseason to be the franchise’s quarterback of the future.
Considered an average to below-average QB for most of his career, Hoyer is assumed to be a stop-gap option for 2017, a placeholder until the 49ers can either sign a big-name like Kirk Cousins next offseason, or draft a high-profile QB in the first round. But Hoyer is actually coming off the most efficient season of his career, posting a QB rating of 98.0 with the Bears in five starts last season, and an 82 grade from Pro Football Focus, that had Hoyer as the 14th most effective QB in the league in 2017.
What’s more, Hoyer experienced success with Kyle Shanahan as his offensive coordinator in Cleveland in 2014, starting off the season with a 7-1 TD to INT ratio, and leading a below average Browns roster to a 6-3 start, before regressing during the second half of the season.
Early reports from training camp are that Hoyer has looked better than expected, something NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport attested to when asked by Drew Hoffar and Kevin Frandsen how he thought Hoyer played after attending 49ers’ practice.
“Really good. Really, really good,” Rapoport said. “He’s throwing the ball harder than I remember. Of course I haven’t seen him in person in a couple of years since I covered the Patriots and he was there, but he’s throwing the ball hard. I had an interesting conversation with Robert Salah the defensive coordinator, just about how many times during practice his coaches will go, ‘who had that guy?’ And he’ll say, ‘he was covered, but Hoyer put it in there and made the completion.’ There’s a lot of those.
“He’s a guy who’s always been productive. He’s gotten injured. Had a really bad playoff game with the Texans. So as far as talented and productive quarterbacks it seems like he’s kind’ve gotten overlooked. But this is a guy who even without a ton of veteran, proven talent on the Niners, I would expect to have a really, really good statistical season. He’s pretty good.”
Pro Football Focus would seem to largely agree with Rapoport, projecting Hoyer to throw for over 3,400 yards, with 16 TDs and 10 INTs next season.
Listen to the full interview below. For Rapoport’s comments on Hoyer, skip to the 4:20 mark.
