The New England Patriots added a quarterback to the depth chart on Sunday, but perhaps they didn’t add a starting quarterback. It’s fitting that in free agency, Bill Belichick allowed Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, to leave. And in exchange, Belichick welcomed Brian Hoyer on a one-year, $1 million deal.
Belichick is the king of anticlimax in the offseason, with a habit of signing unexciting or unknown players in free agency and then trading back in the draft. But he also converts boring offseasons into exciting regular seasons, which is why it’s hard to be a skeptic, even in an offseason when Belichick seems OK with swapping Brady for Hoyer, a journeyman whose career has included two stays in New England (2009-2011, 2017-2018).