Cleveland Browns: Brock Osweiler can get last laugh, if he stops talking
By Randy Gurzi
Cleveland Browns quarterback Brock Osweiler is still talking about his time with the Houston Texans, but if he wants to revive his career, he has to move on
It was originally considered a salary dump, but may turn out to be a deal that nets the Cleveland Browns a second-round pick and a starting quarterback. Well, at least a stop-gap one anyway.
Even if it’s only a temporary thing, the fact that Brock Osweiler is still on the Browns roster and competing for a starting spot is huge news. He was a massive flop for the Houston Texans, who gave him a four-year $72 million deal before the 2016 season. After a terrible year with them, he was sent along with a second-round pick for a fourth-round selection from the Browns.
It was an unprecedented move as the Texans basically gave the Browns some great draft stock in exchange for relief from Osweiler’s $16 million guarantee for 2017. Now reports are that Cleveland has liked what they have seen, and he may be able to make the battle interesting as he goes up against second-year player Cody Kessler and rookie DeShone Kizer for the job.
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If he should do the unthinkable and win the job, Osweiler has the chance to prove that the problem all along was the poor fit between him and Houston head coach Bill O’Brien. The two never saw eye-to-eye and there were reports of shoving matches and yelling contests between the two during their year together. By winning the starting gig, Osweiler would get the last laugh — but only if he stops talking.
After saying he’s finally getting coached right, Osweiler half took the blame for his failures, but made sure we all knew that O’Brien was the problem. Here’s what the quarterback said at minicamp via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal:
"“And I believe firmly that when your fundamentals and your feet are right as a quarterback, you’re going to make great decisions and you’re going to throw accurate footballs.“I think that’s something that slid last season. I’m not going to go into great detail on that, but they did. My fundamentals slid, and because of that, you saw some poor decisions and some poor throws. If you go back to 2015, I feel like my fundamentals were pretty tight.”"
Even if he’s right and the issue was a bad fit, talking now does him no good. The 6-8 quarterback needs to focus on doing all he can to remain in the NFL. The last bit of film on him is nothing pretty and, should he also be seen as someone who not only defies coaching — but also takes shots afterwards — it will be hard to stay employed.
Next: NFL Power Rankings: Post-minicamp edition
Another issue is that he can’t be fully invested in fixing what’s wrong if he still is focused on errors in the past. If he really wants to embarrass the Texans and prove them wrong, he needs to do so with his passes — not his words.