NFL Free Agency: 30 worst free agency signings this century
By Randy Gurzi
. QB. Houston Texans. Brock Osweiler. 2. player. 10
2. Worst NFL free agency signings this century: Brock Osweiler
After back-to-back seasons with a record of 9-7, while using a revolving door of quarterbacks, the Houston Texans made a huge move to improve their team in 2016. That was the year they went out and backed up a Brink’s truck for Brock Osweiler, as they stole Peyton Manning’s successor away from the defending Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos.
Osweiler, a second-round pick out of Arizona State in 2012, spent the past four seasons with Denver learning behind Manning. Then in 2015, he filled in for the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, as he dealt with some nagging injuries in what was his final season. The second-string quarterback went 5-2 that year and was good on 61.8 percent of his passes with 10 touchdowns and six picks.
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Upset that Manning took back over when Osweiler had outplayed him, the 6-foot-7 gun-slinger bolted in the offseason, as Houston gave him a four-year, $72 million deal.
It was proven to be a mistake on the Texans’ part quickly, as Osweiler struggled in head coach Bill O’Brien’s system.
Despite being one of the tallest quarterbacks in the game, Osweiler strangely seemed content to dump the ball off and averaged just 5.8 yards per pass attempt. He also had more interceptions (16) than touchdowns (15) in what was his only season with the Texans.
Things were so bad with him that the Texans actually pulled off the first-ever known salary dump in 2017. They gave the Cleveland Browns a second-round pick to take Osweiler and his $16 million worth of guaranteed salary off their hands. Cleveland used Houston’s second-round pick to select running back Nick Chubb out of Georgia. All the more reason the Osweiler experiment in Houston was a total disaster.