This offseason, the Washington Redskins made significant changes to the quarterback room, first with the addition of 14-year veteran Alex Smith in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs in March and then with another trade in April to have Kevin Hogan join the fold.
While Smith was added as the team's franchise quarterback and Colt McCoy, considered one of the best backups in the league, is still on the roster heading into his fifth season in Washington, Hogan has the chance to learn behind both as the No. 3 quarterback.
Unlike most third quarterbacks on an NFL roster, Hogan has started a regular season game while also coming in for relief outings, too.
In total, the McLean, Va., native has appeared in eight games during his first two NFL season, completing 60-of-101 attempts for 621 yards with four touchdowns. He's also carried the ball 18 times for 176 yards and one touchdown.
In his first career start last October against the Houston Texans, Hogan completed 20-of-37 passes for 140 yards and one touchdown along with five carries for 36 yards.
"It helps me in the sense that I've seen everything that you can see," Hogan said of starting in an NFL regular season contest. "I got to play in some games, got some game experience. Now I'm able to come here and watch Alex and Colt play and learn from them, guys that are veterans and have done a lot of great things in this league.
"I'm excited because this culture is great. It's good to be a part of it. I love the offense that we're running. Whenever I get out there, I'm hoping to execute it the way it's supposed to be."
Hogan originally entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft by Kansas City before being waived and subsequently signed by the Cleveland Browns, where he would spend the remainder of his rookie season and the next campaign.
Now on his third team in as many seasons, Hogan said the most difficult part of his road to date has been learning each team's offensive playbook.
"You've got great locker rooms across the league, so I just think it's really just learning the offense and feeling comfortable with that," Hogan said. "Fortunately, they have a lot of similar concepts and stuff in Cleveland, so right now it's just learning some of the new stuff. It's been a pretty good transition. It's been awesome. The guys are very welcoming, the coaches are awesome. I'm liking it so far."
The 25-year-old said that McCoy has been particularly helpful in his transition due to the fact the veteran quarterback has now worked with head coach Jay Gruden for four full seasons.
"I sit next to Colt in every meeting," Hogan said. "Any question I have, he's always willing and ready to answer. It's nice being able to lean on him because he's been in the system for a while and he's been extremely helpful.
"And then the coaches, [offensive coordinator] [Matt] Cavanaugh and [passing game coordinator] Kevin O'Connell, they've been great. They make the offense easy and quarterback friendly to learn and make it easy to understand. When you understand it, you feel more comfortable and you're able to play better."
