As quickly as it began, the Brock Osweiler era in Houston ended. On the first day of 2016 free agency, the Texans signed the former Bronco to a $72 million dollar contract. On the first day of the 2017 free agency, they dumped that contract onto the Cleveland Browns for practically nothing. Along with a second and sixth rounder, the embattled Browns only parted with a fourth round option. The Osweiler contract ($16 million guaranteed) will be paid off by his new team and the picks enticed the Ohio suitor to front those albatross numbers. Cleveland now has the largest salary cap and 15 picks in the upcoming NFL Draft — six of the first 65 selections.
“Managing our salary cap, putting us in a position to keep our players to have the chance to keep those (sic) players is a big part of what we do. That’s how we’ve decided to manage our football team,” said Texans GM Rick Smith at the NFL Combine.
Osweiler’s inconsistency in H-Town spawned the TXHSFB nickname Crock Ballsweiller, his interception prone alter ego. The numbers weren’t great on the season: 16 interceptions (4th worst), 72.2 QBR (49th), and 15 touchdowns (27th) was enough motivation for Houston to give him a Texas-sized boot out of the Lonestar state.
Despite this, the Texans won a playoff game more than the rival Dallas Cowboys – mostly because of their No. 1 ranked defense – and nearly upset the Patriots behind Osweiler better than expected performance. Going back in time to his tenure with the Broncos, Osweiler finished 5-2 during Denver’s Super Bowl campaign. The defensive statistics were very similar to last year’s Houston unit, posting 283.1 ypg (1st) to Houston’s 301.3 ypg (1st) and allowing 18.5 points per game (4th best) to Houston’s 17.4 (4th best).
When Brock came to Texas, expectations were high that he could easily seize the mantle of best franchise quarterback in Houston history. After all, the list was a very brief one: David Carr, Matt Schaub and Ryan Fitzpatrick don’t exactly scream NFL elite.
Houston has never had success at the position and Brock Osweiler failed like those before him did, finishing the season 27th in passing yards. His name will now be written as a brief sentence in the Texans history books – a failed deal that will be quickly forgotten by the Houston faithful.
History has a way of repeating itself. Similar to the Arian Foster before, Lamar Miller was relied on heavily for the Texans offensive productivity, a strategy that GM Rick Smith said would not be implemented as often next year. It’s difficult that Miller won’t be used constantly without a quarterback; currently, the Texans only have Tom Savage and Brandon “Old Timer” Weeden. A Tony Romo trade is very possible, but he hasn’t shown the resilience and strength since shattering his collarbone.
The Browns don’t have much on their quarterback roster either. They released RGIII today, since his body is held together by glue and spit; Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan sound more like professional BMX biker names than actual football players. If they keep Osweiler, the Browns will likely engage in a quarterback competition with the No. 12 overall pick. If they release him, they’ll pay 10 million of his contract and offer the remaining $6 million to teams looking for a backup.
The Houston Texans now possess $40 million in cap to spend as they will, an amount they will likely fork over for quarterback and offensive line talent. Last year’s o-line saw injuries to starters Duane Brown and Derek Newton, which didn’t help Osweiler’s development behind the snap in a new system. Same goes for the Browns, who allowed a league high 66 sacks last year — 17 more than the next closest team. Cleveland has already tried to flip a weakness in a strength, signing Bengals right guard Kevin Zeitler (five years, $60 million), Packers center J.C. Tretter (three years, $16.5 million) and resigned left guard Joel Bitonio a five-year extension.
However, for the Browns, the trade was apparently all about collecting picks, like a pop culture fan gathering totems of his obsession.
“We’re really excited to acquire a second-round draft choice in this trade,” The Browns said in a press conference. “Draft picks are extremely important to our approach in building a championship-caliber football team. We are intent on adding competition to every position on our roster and look forward to having Brock come in and compete.”
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