Houston Texans fans, the wait is finally over. Veteran journeyman Brian Hoyer is your starting quarterback for the 2015 NFL season, as first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. The report was confirmed shortly thereafter by Tania Ganguli of ESPN.
UPDATE, 2:50 PM: Texans coach Bill O'Brien confirmed the move, but also made it clear that the job is Hoyer's to lose.
OB "We're all on a short leash. It's a results-oriented league. Brian has to play well."
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) August 24, 2015
Hoyer, of course, had been battling with young veteran Ryan Mallett for the rights to the top spot in Houston. While Mallett represents much higher upside than Hoyer, he hasn't been able to stay healthy or produce consistently as an NFL signal-caller to this point in his career. Hoyer has also had his own injury issues and, due to limited athleticism and arm strength, is more of a game-manager than anything.
Hoyer, per ESPN's Adam Caplan, won the competition thanks to being both more consistent on a practice-to-practice basis and out-and-out "better in OTAs."
Hoyer, a former undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots, spent the first three seasons of his NFL career backing up future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. While he never saw much playing time, the presumption was that he was learning at the feet of one of the all-time greats and would be better for it. Hoyer though, after parting ways with the Pats in 2012, signed on with the Arizona Cardinals for just one season then bounced to the Cleveland Browns. In Cleveland, Hoyer was finally given his first opportunity at a full-time gig. He appeared in just three games in 2013, but this past season he beat out rookie Johnny Manziel for the top spot initially and had the Browns pointing in the right direction before again being sidelined due to health issues.
When he came back, the team stuck with Manziel until he fumbled away the season and Hoyer was forced to lead the Browns down the meaningless home stretch.
Hoyer has 356 completions for 4,557 yards and 19 touchdowns to his name in the NFL.
Now with the Texans, Hoyer, it seems, was able to beat out another Patriots castoff in Mallett and, assuming he can stay healthy, will finally get the opportunity at the fulltime starting gig he's been chasing for six professional seasons.
