Brian Hoyer wants to be a starting quarterback, and he’s gone to a team where he thinks he will be.
Hoyer said on PFT Live that his priority in free agency was finding a team where he believes he’ll earn the starting job, and after talking to 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan he believes the 49ers are that team.
“I’m going to have a really good opportunity to go in and be the starting quarterback, and that’s all I’m looking for at this point in my career,” Hoyer said. “I’m not ready to sit there and be content going into the season being a backup. I wanted an opportunity to compete for a starting job.”
Hoyer said Shanahan hasn’t promised him anything, but Hoyer believes that having played for Shanahan before, he’s going to have a leg up on any other quarterback the 49ers might bring to camp.
“I can go in there Day One and call the plays. I don’t have to learn a whole new system,” he said.
Hoyer has started 27 games in the last three seasons, so it’s not like he’s unaccustomed to starting. But for most of his career he’s become the starter only because another quarterback ahead of him on the depth chart either got hurt or played poorly. In San Francisco, he thinks he can take the reins from the first day, and lead the 49ers going forward.