The New England Patriots only have one quarterback on the roster in some scrub named Tom Brady and they need to add another to the squad. After trading Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2018 second round pick, the 49ers released former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer.
A reunion makes a lot of sense, as we previously wrote. Apparently the reunion was close from the start, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
“The #49ers originally included QB Brian Hoyer in the trade to the #Patriots but he was taken out for comp. pick reasons,” Rapoport tweeted.
It sounds like the trade was going to be Jimmy Garoppolo in exchange for the 49ers 2018 second round pick and Brian Hoyer, but the Patriots wanted Hoyer removed for compensatory draft pick reasons. The 49ers are not projected to receive any compensatory draft picks, while the Patriots are scheduled to receive two fourth round picks and a seventh round pick.
Hoyer counts as a fifth round pick on the compensatory draft pick cancellation chart on OverTheCap.com, but if a player is released before a certain point in the year they do not count in the compensatory math. The Patriots proved that by releasing tight end Clay Harbor early in the 2016 season.
And so while it’s not clear if the compensatory pick value would transfer to the Patriots and put one of the Patriots two projected fourth round compensatory picks in jeopardy, New England definitely didn’t want to take any risks.