Top 15 worst free agent signings in NFL history

3. Brock Osweiler, QB, Houston Texans

The deal: 4 years, $72 million

The Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50 thanks to their tremendous defense, but anyone who followed that team closely knows that they wouldn’t have likely gotten where they did if it wasn’t for the play of backup quarterback Brock Osweiler. Although he wasn’t perfect, Osweiler was exactly what the Broncos needed in place of a very clearly injured Peyton Manning, who looked like he was on borrowed time as of the 2015 season.

Osweiler played well for the Broncos, making some clutch throws in some massive wins as the team earned its way to the no. 1 seed in the AFC. Unfortunately for Osweiler, he would be benched in the regular season finale for a healthy enough Manning, and Manning took over the show in the postseason.

That benching certainly rubbed Osweiler wrong, especially after he’d already sat behind Manning from 2012-on.

After the Broncos won Super Bowl 50, Osweiler was offered a deal to remain the team’s starter. He passed it up, hit free agency, and signed a four-year deal with the Texans without ever visiting the team. That’s not totally uncommon in free agency, but when you’re talking about quarterbacks, it’s probably not a bad idea to sit everyone down and see if it might be a fit.

Osweiler signed the deal, spurning the Broncos in the process, and became Houston’s starter. How did it go?

It went poorly enough that the Texans would end up paying the Cleveland Browns a second-round draft pick just to eat some of Osweiler’s remaining money. He spent just one dismal season in Houston, and actually ended up getting re-signed by the Broncos in 2017 for a bit, starting four games.