Pats - No Hurry to Sign Back Up QB

Patriots Journal: Front office feels no pressure to sign veteran backup for Brady

FOXBORO – The Patriots appear to be in no hurry to find a veteran quarterback to backup
Tom Brady.

That is surprising, since Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of the Pats opener last year, and teams are going to come after Brady with blitzes this year.
But Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio said Tuesday that the Pats have full confidence in rookie Brian Hoyer if Brady gets hurt. Hoyer is the only other quarterback on the Patriots active roster.

“Brian has been here since the rookie mini camp and he’s proven that he has the understanding and the grasp of what we are doing offensively, so where we are right now, that’s where we are with the club,” Caserio said. “We have the two quarterbacks and we have Isaiah (Stanback), who last week it was kind of his first introduction at some of the things we are doing offensively, so we’ll continue moving forward with that group. If the situation arises where we feel like we have to make a move, then we’ll go ahead and do that.”

Both Hoyer and Stanback are unproven quarterbacks in the NFL. In fact, neither has started an NFL regular-season game. Hoyer, who was not drafted, ranks among Michigan State’s career leaders in pass attempts (No. 2 at 896), passing yards (No. 3 with 6,159), pass completions (No. 3 at 500), TD passes (No. 6 with 35) and completion percentage (No. 10 at .559).

Stanback, who was drafted in the fourth round (103rd overall) in 2007 by Dallas, was converted to a wide receiver and kick returner by the Cowboys.

“Isaiah is a player that when he was coming out of college a few years ago out of Washington, we felt that he could actually play the position,” Caserio said last week. “Now, since he’s been with the Cowboys he’s played receiver, he’s done a number of other different things, but we liked the things that he did coming out of college, so our thought process is to work with him at the quarterback position and see how that progresses.”

Stanback finished his career at Washington second in career passing yards per completion with 14.38 and 10th in career total offense with 4,662 yards –– 3,868 as passing yards (ranked 11th).
There are not a lot of veteran backups still on the market. The Philadelphia Eagles singed Jeff Garcia after Donavan McNabb broke a rib in their opener in Carolina, and A.J. Feeley just signed with the Panthers.