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Browns sign Brian Hoyer

Add another name to the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback depth chart.

Brian Hoyer, who was released by the Cardinals this week, has agreed to a two-year deal with the Browns, according to Adam Caplan of SiriusXM Radio.

Hoyer got the first start of his NFL career in a Week 17 loss to the 49ers last season and played fairly well, at least by the standards of the 2012 Cardinals offense. He has also played for the Steelers and Patriots.

From all indications, Brandon Weeden will be the guy for the Browns this season, and Hoyer will compete with Jason Campbell and Thaddeus Lewis for the No. 2 spot.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/16/browns-sign-brian-hoyer/

Sounds like another nobody that will just serve as a body in camp.

i remember reading or hearing somewhere that lombadi likes him allot. I think he will beat out Lewis for the number 3 spot

I'll always root for a life time Browns fan who get his dream to play for us!

Was wishing for Andrew Luck...Oh well.

Of course the media right away saying Weeden now has competition for the #1 QB spot...lol Bozos

I'm not opposed to this signing and I'm not opposed to the signing of Brandon Jackson either. With that said, the logic of either is not obvious. Beyond that, it raises the question, why hasn't there been any similar noticeable effort at CB or TE? Again, the logic of these omissions are not obvious.

I know that this is a flashpoint among many fans so I have been hesitant to ignite more flames by asking the question. Overall I'm not unhappy with the way the FO has done its business this off season. Still, as they continue to sign players, there is an elephant in the room. I continue to give the FO the benefit of the doubt because as a fan I can't judge the grand scheme until there is a finished product. But the question is legitimate.

I know nothing about Hoyer, but I liked what I saw of Lewis in that last game. He looked a heckuva lot better than Weeden.

Understandable ...

Wasn't Hoyer slated to start in Arizona before they traded for Palmer? Man, there is some crazy stuff going on in the NFL.

Oliver Luck was a huge Browns fan. I don't remember any such talk about Andrew Luck being a Browns fan.

I feel Hoyer would have been signed here no matter who our Qbs are.
Its funny how 2 different people can see something totally different because I though Lewis looked OK but nothing that would make me think anymore. People become! enamored with the options that open with a qb that can scramble. It has become the rage and IMO won't last long. It always comes back to reading defenses and making tight throws. Lewis hasn't much upside from what I saw.
I'm not saying Hoyer does because I haven't watched him but from what I have read he has all the tools. We will just have to see.

I'm not sure what Lombardi saw in Hoyer that makes him like him so much. From what I have seen, he is exceedingly average, and folded like a cheap folding chair under pressure in college. He was a moderately talented kid, and a hard worked, but the fact is that he's been dumped by 2 organizations in the past year .... one of those teams being desperate for a QB.

Hoyer has always been an awful QB under pressure. Honestly I don't see anything "special" or even "good" about his game. I'm not saying he's awful, but I don't see him as anything but a career backup.

Meh. Hoyer has modest talent, and many flaws. However, he's the new shiny QB ..... so many people will go nuts for him.

J/K

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2012 Cardinals offense. He has also played for the Steelers and Patriots.

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Common, lets stop and think about this, Brian's played for 3 other teams, what makes you think he's gonna come in here and WALA....Answer to all our QB problems for the last 10 years, Were gonna crack the nut to let all his talent out and shine in the NFL...Common lets be real, Brian is a back-up QB in the NFL thats what he's brought in for, it's also a nice feel good story to keep the press busy for the next three- four months, and he's another arm for camps....and if he sticks than great if not were not worse off than when we started. ..Lets not go over board with this signing.

I'm not going to disagree, although I'm not sure that Hoyer is any better than Lewis. Just more bodies to compete for the job.

Probably nothing more than to see what Hoyer has by comparison with what the Browns other QBs have.

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Its funny how 2 different people can see something totally different because I though Lewis looked OK but nothing that would make me think anymore. People become! enamored with the options that open with a qb that can scramble. It has become the rage and IMO won't last long. It always comes back to reading defenses and making tight throws. Lewis hasn't much upside from what I saw.

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That's funny because I saw a guy who made much quicker decisions than Weeden ever did. He went back, made a read, and threw the ball. Unlike Weeden who held the ball, held it some more, and held it until he was pressured into making a stupid throw.

Interesting quote by Lombardi. We're not carrying 4 QB's so it will be interesting to see who they cut.

First of all, what makes you think I was referring to you? LOL------lighten up. I was yanking your chain because your tone came across as superior.

I never said anything positive about Hoyer. I said I don't know anything about him.

You say we've seen him play. Have we? Or, is "seeing him play" actually just trotting out his preseason stats? I also have never liked the competition argument. If he was playing against "guys who are bagging groceries" than he was also playing with "guys who are bagging groceries." And it is a heckuva lot easier playing defense than offense when the chemistry is not there.

I am not defending Hoyer or proclaiming that he will challenge for the job. I simply didn't like how you belittled posters who are hoping for an improvement at qb. The fact of the matter is that Weeden was terrible last year.

I've mentioned this before, but only one person replied to it: Many people are assuming that the change in offense will work wonders for Weeden. It may help him, but on the other hand, this vertical, attacking offense could lead to a barrage of interceptions.

It's no secret that the Browns had to dummy down the offense last year for Weeden. I hope it doesn't come true, but the guy could be an interception nightmare if he is asked to make more big plays.

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I was yanking your chain because your tone came across as superior.

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You would know LOL

Perhaps it's because you quoted me and then responded in a superior, smart Alec, manner.

I am not going to pretend that this former UDFA, who did little in college, and has done almost nothing in the NFL is somehow going to be the answer.

Nice football post, Da Man's hot.

YTown, I was just giving you a taste of your own medicine. Don't be offended, man.

I am curious about what you think about my theory that opening up the offense could lead to a slew of interceptions? Seriously, I like reading your posts. You are an intelligent poster who brings a lot of insight to the board. Talk to me.

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where have you... Really!!!

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I don't see why all have a desire to not just disagree or question me but feel a need to insult me with the silly say what crapola

1. I don't make up stuff. It was like One minute after the signing the guy with the Big Ears on NFL Network made that as part of his declaration of us signing Hoyer pretty much right before or after they did a piece on Weeden taking the #1 reps.

But to answer you YES REALLY!!!

Lombardi - quotes from 2 years ago? More his admiring of BB then Hoyer I would think.

Lombardi also admonished the Browns for taking Weeden claiming it was a desperate move - which actually in after thought I agree with that evaluation. It doesn't reflect on his evaluations of Weeden now n in this Offense.

At this moment...Its Hoyer vs Lewis.

As for some possible over evaluations of Lewis on this board. He looked most comfortable in our offense - I agree with that evaluation 100%. But what is being overlooked. Is last season was his 3rd...ALL being under ONE SYSTEM since coming into the NFL as a rookie. ALL in SHURMUR's Offense. Talent vs. comfort in a system compared to a Rookie not a good match for the system n Colt who failed as well. I am actually surprised he hasn't followed Shurmur to Philly???

Chud n Norv are excellent coaches n good evaluators. And yet at this point they have Lewis #3 n now fighting for a roster spot. We still have a lot of evaluating (we = coaches) still to come - stuff we don't see. Heck they breakdown film on practices we get a blurb here n there about a series or so. So all I got to go on is the big guns. So far they got Lewis at #3.

On the Luck thing??? Just what I burnt in my memory from something I read after he was drafted...it left a mark cause I had no prior knowledge of that n was a little disappointed he couldn't end up here. Prior I just knew NO WAY here as in what can you do. Wrong or right...I wrote that as a JOKE you really thought I was hoping for Luck to get released and come here??? Come on dawgs. My point was more on HOYER not LUCK! Correct or not about LUCK...ok I would like to be educated than wrong. Was I correct at least about Hoyer being a fan?

JMHO

I do think that it's a possibility. No one really knows how Weeden will perform in this offense ... although it does appear to fit his abilities and skills far better than Shurmur's offense did. Will Weeden be able to adapt, grow, and learn beyond the abilities that led the former regime to draft him? That is always the question that must be asked of a 2nd year player.

One thing that encouraged me about last season was the way we drove the field to score. We may not have thrown the ball in, but we used th pass to get down the field. Trent ran in a lot of short opportunities. We improved our scoring tremendously from the year before, and we also improved the number of big plays in the passing game. Many of those were shorter passes that went 20+ yards, but that's what is supposed to happen, and it is something we lacked desperately the year before.

I thought that Weeden showed decent, though spotty pocket awareness. I do think that he got confused as the year progressed and he received more "coaching".

I think that Weeden has work to do. I think that he needs to work on his secondary reads. I think that he needs to work on his footwork. (which supposedly is much improved in this year's camp) His deep ball has been a strength in college, yet it wasn't last year. I do think that working with almost entirely inexperienced receivers worked against him. The WCO requires the QB and WR to be in sync on every play. It was said that Gordon was lazy in many of his routes. I don't know that this is the case, but it is possible that at least part of Weeden's confusion confusion could have been because Gordon wasn't where he was supposed to be. The WCO is a precision offense. Weeden seemed more comfortable early on than later in the year. (outside of the 1st horrible game)

I think that Weeden is a fairly accurate QB, and has a strong arm compared to the NFL average. I think that there are more accurate QBs, but I think that this part of his game is strong enough to be a winning QB.

I think that defenses really started throwing a lot at him trying to confuse him, especially later in the year. I think that he did get confused. I have often talked about the need of a young QB to adjust to the adjustments defenses make to take away his strengths. Weeden has to make this adjustment.

So, in short, this is how I see Weeden:

Arm: Good. I think that he has the arm strength to make any NFL throw.

Accuracy: Decent to good. I think that issues with "arm strength" were due more to inconsistent reading of defenses than insufficient strength.

Ball placement. I think that he was better than the previous QB, but I think that he can improve here.

Completion percentage: I think that he had a solid completion percentage. His 1st game really skewed his stats badly.

Ability to throw in tight windows: I think that he has the ability to complete pases in tight windows.

Footwork: TBD, Inconsistent at best last year

Pocket Awareness: Fair, He can be better here. He was better than the previous year's QB in this regard.

Leadership: Solid. I think that he can lead the team effectively.

Ability to learn: He managed to learn enough of the WCO to start game 1 last year, despite never having played in anything resembling it before. He struggled at times, but I do think that part of his struggles involved having a young and inexperienced team around him. He seems to have caught on to this new offense from what camp reports say. Hopefully he has this ability to learn, because it is vital.He'll have to learn a new offense, so this will be a vital area.

Willingness to improve: He has reportedly been working with Bess on reads, staying after to work independently with him. That shows a willingness to improve.

Work ethic: He seems willing to do the work. He has worked on game tapes at home, and has said that he has given up golf, going out to dinner, and things liek that to work on his craft. That shows a work ethic to me.

Ability to handle pressure: We'll see. He was up and down to some degree in this regard last year. However, he had as bad a debut as any QB in the Eagles game, and he managed to bounce back. That was encouraging.

Size: I think that he has the size to play the position, and that this is a plus.

Decision making: I think that he has room for improvement here. I think that a more familiar offense will help here. The WCO was a very precise offense, and a receiver out of position could screw up the whole play ... especially for a rookie QB. We'll see how he does in this offense, which should have simpler play calls, and simpler reads.

Overall, there are a lot of question marks about Weeden. Are there any problems that cannot be fixed? I don't think so. Will he be able to become proficient in enough areas he struggled in to become an effective starter? I think so. However, he still has to do it on the field.

OK, I went off on a tangent, which I am often wont to do. As far as interceptions ..... it's possible that he could have a lot of them due to the downfield passing game. On the other hand, he could find his comfort zone. We'll have to see.