During a Monday press conference, Broncos coach Vance Joseph and John Elway faced plenty of questions about a quarterback who has never played for them. They apparently got none about a guy who used to.
Brock Osweiler, drafted by Denver in 2012, left via free agency a year ago. Last week, Houston hot potatoed Osweiler to Cleveland. Now, the Browns plan to cut him if they can’t find a sucker to take him off their hands.
So if/when (when) Osweiler is released, would Denver be interested?
Only 12 months ago, the Broncos reportedly offered Osweiler $16 million per year on a three-season deal. Unless that was merely a face-saving effort to create the impression that they tried to keep a guy they really didn’t want, shouldn’t they be interested if they can get him for the sixth-year minimum of $775,000, with Cleveland paying the balance of his $16 million guaranteed deal?
Of course, the coaching staff has changed and the offense has changed. But they’re sticking with Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch, at least for now. If G.M. John Elway truly believed that Osweiler was worth $16 million per year as of last year at this time, surely Elway would cough up less than a million now to get him back.
If the Broncos aren’t interested in an Osweiler reunion, that likely tells us all we need to know about what they thought of him then, and what the NFL at large should think of him now. For a guy who showed promise in generating a 5-2 as a starter in 2015 and going toe-to-toe with the 10-0 Patriots and Tom Brady in a prime-time overtime win, the bottom has fallen out, quickly.
In a league where there aren’t nearly enough quarterbacks to go around, it’s possible that Osweiler’s career is on the brink of implosion.