Grab the banjo, ready the maracas and steady the trumpet: Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer participated in drills and took snaps from under center Tuesday.
The 28-year-old signal-caller tore his ACL in October, but he was back on the field as the Browns opened minicamp Tuesday.
Hoyer moved well during the 15 minutes of the workout the media was allowed to view, according to Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer, never favoring his injured knee.
It's a positive sign for the QB-needy Browns that Hoyer was back on the field in a knee brace for the first time in six months.
"He's ahead of schedule," coach Mike Pettine said Tuesday, per The Plain Dealer. "(He) begged me to jump in there on the team stuff."
Hoyer was cleared for 7-on-7 drills, but not 11-on-11s. The team hopes he'll be able to do full-team drills at minicamp and expects him to be full-go by training camp.
Pettine told reporters Tuesday he hopes to avoid starting a rookie quarterback right away, even if one is taken at No. 4 overall.
Asked about helping to teach a young quarterback, Hoyer said "I think the best way to tutor is to play well."
Hoyer's progress is something that will be followed closely throughout the offseason.
Taking part in workouts Tuesday was one step, but in the long term it means fairly little a quarterback did drills in April.
It was 12 months ago we were all gushing over Robert Griffin III's phenomenal recovery from ACL surgery. We know how disastrous that situation turned out.
Every injury, surgery and player is different, but much better quarterbacks than Hoyer (see: Tom Brady) have struggled coming off ACL surgery.
Tuesday marked a good day for Hoyer, but it's merely the start of a long summer.
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