Peyton’s greatest snub of Osweiler will mean we never get to Brock
“As much as we all want to believe that Osweiler is learning under Manning and that he will, at some point, be unleashed as the heir apparent to 18’s throne, the odds are really far better that Brock moves on to start somewhere else.”
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With the Broncos leading 41-10 in Oakland yesterday afternoon, late in the third quarter of a blowout game, Broncos backup quarterback Brock Osweiler assumed (or was told) that it was his time to get into the game. But Osweiler didn’t enter the fray just then. Instead, as the youngster snagged his helmet and trotted toward the playing field, Peyton Manning touched base with coach John Fox and took the field to lead his offense, leaving an exasperated Brock tossing his hands in the air with frustration.
It can’t be easy to be the understudy to the most stat-sensitive quarterback of all time. So long as number eighteen can still muster the energy to pad his numbers he will continue to take every snap possible. Until and unless Denver coaches insist that Manning have a seat (or, God forbid, he gets hurt), Brock will not face live fire. His role is just to sit there, look pretty and wait.
Meanwhile, fans wait, too. The 6’8” Arizona State product is, like many backup quarterbacks, sort of a fan favorite. He certainly looks the part of a big-time professional quarterback. Brock’s mobile, he seems to have all the physical skills and by golly the kid’s got an arm on him. But, as Peyton Manning snubbed Osweiler in the third quarter yesterday, the veteran threatens to prevent Osweiler from ever becoming the starting quarterback for your Denver Broncos.
As much as we all want to believe that Osweiler is learning under Manning and that he will, at some point, be unleashed as the heir apparent to 18’s throne, the odds are really far better that Brock moves on to start somewhere else.
Osweiler’s rookie contract, which pays him roughly $3.5M per season, expires at the end of the 2015 season – that’s next year. He will at that time become an unrestricted free agent, able to negotiate with all 32 teams in the NFL. And, with many, many teams badly in need of help at the quarterback position, one will probably pay him in excess of $10M per season to come join them.
Peyton Manning’s contract does not expire until the end of the 2016 season, a full year later than Osweiler’s does. Assuming he opts to play out his deal (and there’s no reason to believe he won’t), the Broncos will have to offer Osweiler a new contract paying starter’s money long before he ever becomes a starter. And the Broncos aren’t going to pay two quarterbacks that kind of dough; not when they have Julius and Demaryius Thomas to pay, as well as Chris Harris and others.
No, it’s far more likely that the Broncos let Osweiler go. Nice as it is to believe that Denver’s future at quarterback is clear it’s not. Based on the numbers it looks like Manning’s greatest snub of Brock is yet to come.
