Sources told NESN.com earlier in March that Hoyer would explore his options to find a starting role in free agency, though the three-year veteran declined to get into that discussion. He just noted that he was excited for a fourth season in Foxboro.
"I'm happy to be back here," Hoyer said. "That's all that really matters to me is to be back with a great organization from the top down, from the Krafts to coaches to the players. I'm excited to be back."
Hoyer was on hand at Basketball City with Harlem Globetrotter Slick Willie Shaw to promote Saturday's game at the TD Garden before the pair made an appearance at Children's Hospital Boston.
It was a tough market for quarterbacks this offseason, and it didn't help Hoyer's cause that he was a restricted free agent. If a team wanted to sign him, it would have to fork over a second-round draft pick to the Patriots.
Peyton Manning paced the quarterback market — and eventually made way for Tim Tebow's availability — and Matt Flynn followed his lead. Plus, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III headline the draft class, so it proved difficult for Hoyer to find the right fit.
Next offseason should be different for Hoyer, who should find a chance to compete for a starting job somewhere. But for now, he knows he's got a great opportunity to continue improving his stock behind Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
"For me, it's always about learning and getting better," Hoyer said. "Obviously, you want to play. You don't want to just sit there on the side. Someone who's played in college, gets to play in the preseason and gets to play in some regular-season games, you obviously want to be out there playing. But for me, it's a great situation to sit back and learn from, in my opinion, the greatest. I have great coaches around me, great players, and it's just a great learning opportunity for me. Wherever that takes me, I don't know. Obviously, I'm here for one more year, and I'm just going to do what I can to help our team each and every week and personally get better on a weekly basis."
Have a question for Jeff Howe? Send it to him via Twitter at @jeffphowe or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.
