Houston Texans: Brock Osweiler, QB
The Houston Texans were winning football games with players such as Brian Hoyer starting under center. They had a good running game, an electric receiver in DeAndre Hopkins, and a strong defense led by J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney.
All they needed, it seemed, was a quarterback capable of pushing them over the top. In 2016, they thought they landed that player in Brock Osweiler. They weren’t alone in this belief either as the expectation was that Osweiler would expand on the success he had in 2015 when he signed a $72 million contract with Houston.
The year prior, Osweiler had gone 5-2 as the starter for the Denver Broncos, filling in for Peyton Manning. He helped Denver make it to the playoffs and they ended up winning it all. Manning then retired and Osweiler was set to take over for him but was clearly bothered that he was benched for Manning despite outplaying him in 2015.
Houston thought they got one over on the Broncos but in the end, they actually saved them from making a mistake. Osweiler struggled mightily and lost his job to Tom Savage. Even worse, the Texans had to send the Cleveland Browns a second-round pick in order to dump his massive salary — and he didn’t even make the Browns opening day roster.