NFL free agency: QB Brian Hoyer to reunite with Josh McDaniels on 2-year deal with Raiders

Veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer will join the Las Vegas Raiders on a two-year deal, the team announced Tuesday. He will play backup behind former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

The 37-year-old spent eight of his 15 NFL seasons with the New England Patriots and started one game for the team last season while Mac Jones dealt with a high ankle sprain in Week 4. He left that matchup against the Green Bay Packers in the first half after sustaining a concussion. Hoyer remained on injured reserve for the remainder of the season and was released in March.

The news of Hoyer's addition comes as the latest in the New England-ification of the Raiders, which replaced longtime quarterback Derek Carr with Garoppolo, who was drafted by the Patriots in 2014 and remained there until the 2017 season.

While Carr and Hoyer's time with the Patriots had no crossover, both quarterbacks are familiar with Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, who worked as an offensive coordinator in New England. There are currently 11 other former Patriots players on the Raiders' 90-man roster.

The Patriots-to-Raiders pipeline doesn't stop there. Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler was named to the job in January of last year after nine seasons in the Patriots' scouting department.

The team has also reportedly hired former Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola as a coaching assistant, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter on Tuesday.

Hoyer's last three seasons were with the Patriots as a backup. He joined New England in 2009 as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State. He played backup for Tom Brady until he was released before the start of the 2012 season during final roster cuts.

In 2013 and 2014, he started 16 games over two seasons with the Cleveland Browns, the most of his career. During that time, Hoyer went 10-6, averaging 231.8 yards per game with 17 touchdowns, 16 interceptions and a 77.6 passer rating.

Over his 14-year career, Hoyer has made at least one start for seven different NFL teams. These include the Arizona Cardinals (2012), Houston Texans (2015), Chicago Bears (2016), San Francisco 49ers (2017) and Indianapolis Colts (2019).

In that span, he has appeared in 76 games and made 40 starts, completing 902 of his 1,518 pass attempts for 10,668 yards, 53 touchdowns and 35 interceptions for a passer rating of 82.9.