Just call him Mr. Hero.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer isn’t the flashiest quarterback in the league, and his latest endorsement deal isn’t exactly extravagant either, reports ESPN’s Darren Rovell. During the spring, Hoyer signed a deal with Mr. Hero, a Cleveland-based sandwich shop that boasts 95 stores — all located in Ohio — while Johnny Manziel was off inking deals with big-time corporations such as Nike, Nissan and MusclePharm.
Hoyer filmed television and radio commercials for the restaurant chain, which also poured money into billboards and buses with his face plastered on them, so when the Browns drafted Manziel with the 22nd pick in this year’s draft back in May, Mr. Hero was understandably nervous.
“We didn’t quite anticipate that they’d draft Johnny, so we were sweating a little bit,” Dan Traci, the owner of All Media Design Group, an advertising firm that has the Mr. Hero account, said.
But as Hoyer won the starting job over Johnny Football and since led the Browns to a 3-2 record this season, including a 31-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in a big AFC North matchup, Mr. Hero has reaped the benefits of the signal-caller’s success.
“Let’s just say, as Brian and the Browns continue to do well, the deal gets better for us and perhaps less so for him,” Traci said.
The specifics of the deal weren’t made available to Rovell, but he did report “it’s for less than six figures annually, comes with incentives based on on-field performance and accolades and, if Hoyer turns into a real star, allows Mr. Hero the option to retain Hoyer for next year at the terms already agreed to.”
Oh, and most importantly, Hoyer also gets all the free sandwiches he wants from Mr. Hero.
“We gave him some gift cards with this deal,” Traci said. “And let’s put it this way: He could eat Mr. Hero every day of the season and would still have money left on those cards.”
Photo via Twitter/@BrownsMemes
