brian axel hoyer (born october 13, 1985) is an american football quarterback for the indianapolis colts of the national football league (nfl). he played college football at michigan state and was signed by the new england patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2009. a journeyman quarterback, hoyer has also played for the pittsburgh steelers, arizona cardinals, cleveland browns, houston texans, chicago bears, and san francisco 49ers. he won super bowl liii during his second stint with the patriots as the backup to tom brady.