FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quarterback Brian Hoyer experienced a lot of change since leaving the New England Patriots in 2012, playing for six different teams, but there was always one constant he could count upon: Tom Brady reaching out to show his support.

"Wherever I've always been, he's always been one of the first guys to congratulate me, check in on me after I got an injury, whatever it might be," Hoyer said Monday in his first interview with reporters since his return to the team.

The two have maintained a close friendship over the years, and now that they are together again, it's almost as if they never spent five-plus years apart. Hoyer relayed that Brady was one of the first players he saw after officially signing a three-year deal with the club on Wednesday.

"It's great to be back with him, to be back in a meeting room with him, and to hear him talk football," said Brian Hoyer of being reunited with Tom Brady. "It's amazing." Jim Rogash/Getty Images

"Just looks a little older, I think," he cracked, before relaying how he'd watch quarterbacks across the NFL each Monday "to get some ideas" and naturally focused on Brady. "I feel like I've been watching him ever since I left, and, to be honest, he hasn't changed much. It's great to be back with him, to be back in a meeting room with him, and to hear him talk football. It's amazing."

For his part, Brady said talking with Hoyer about the different offenses in which he's played has been a neat part about them being together again.

Hoyer credited his time with the Patriots -- when he signed as an undrafted free agent in 2009 until the team released him in September 2012 -- as setting the stage for his career.

"I really don't think I would have lasted this long had I not been in New England to start with -- from learning from Tom, learning from Bill, the guys in this organization, how to do things the right way," he said, adding that playing in the same system under former Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien in Houston (2015) has helped his familiarity in getting back up to speed with the team's current offense.

As for the sudden change of the past week, the 32-year-old Hoyer said he was picking out his son's Halloween costume last Monday when 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan called him with news of the Jimmy Garoppolo trade, which meant he would be released. The call "shocked" him.

Of his return to New England, Hoyer said, "To go right back into that team meeting room and listen to Bill [Belichick], it was like a flashback. It was almost like a dream. Not much has changed. It's kind of cool to see some of the guys I came in with, now they're the veteran leaders of the team. Now we're the old guys -- the Jerod Mayos and Matt Lights, they've molded into that role."

When asked if he considered signing elsewhere, Hoyer indicated that he didn't seriously.

"To come back and be with this organization, I didn't really want to pass it up," he said. "Also, when you've moved around a lot, to move back somewhere you lived before -- especially for my wife and kids -- there was a familiarity there and that had a part to do with it too."