Report: Ex-Patriots QB Brian Hoyer Visiting Colts After Andrew Luck Retirement

Former New England Patriots backup quarterback Brian Hoyer is on his way for a visit with the Indianapolis Colts.

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero passed along the report on Sunday, adding he's the "front-runner" to win the backup job behind starter Jacoby Brissett.

Dianna Russini of ESPN previously had reported the Colts were "very interested" in the QB. Meanwhile, NFL reporter Adam Caplan added that six teams had interest in Hoyer.

The Patriots released Hoyer on Saturday, leaving rookie Jarrett Stidham in place as Tom Brady's backup.

"I thought both players played well in camp. I like both players," head coach Bill Belichick said, per Mike Reiss of ESPN. "In the end, there are a number of considerations that you have to make ... it's a long season, so we'll see what happens."

The Patriots appear to be very high on Stidham.

"Jarett is a good kid. He loves football. He's a hard worker. He makes mistakes every day, like they all do as rookies, and he gets better," offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said last week, per Reiss. "He has a great attitude, a great mindset about him. He doesn't ever get discouraged, which is a great trait to have as a young person."

As for Hoyer, the 33-year-old has bounced around the NFL in his career, serving two stints with the Pats (2009-11, 2017-18) along with playing for the Arizona Cardinals (2012), Cleveland Browns (2013-14), Houston Texans (2015), Chicago Bears (2016) and San Francisco 49ers (2017).

A move to the Colts would make sense after Andrew Luck's shocking retirement, leaving Brissett as the starter and no backups currently on the roster.

"It is unsettled," head coach Frank Reich said of the team's quarterback depth Thursday, per Andrew Walker of Colts.com. "We've been doing work on that in evaluating Chad (Kelly) and (Phillip Walker), as well as evaluating all options, obviously, as you would expect. And that'll play out over the next couple days."

Walker was cut when the Colts trimmed the roster down to 53 players, however, while Kelly was added to the suspended list for the first two games of the season. So adding an experienced veteran like Hoyer would be a logical move given the pressing need at backup quarterback.