John Elway still seems a bit miffed at Brock Osweiler
Brock Osweiler wasn’t feeling all warm and fuzzy about the Denver Broncos by the time free agency started last March, and it’s tough to blame him.
The Broncos benched Osweiler in Week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, turning back to Peyton Manning. Osweiler handled it all like a true pro, never saying anything in the media to disrupt the team’s playoff run. Then after the season the team strangely refused to negotiate with him while it waited for Manning’s retirement decision — nobody in Denver thought Manning would be back with the Broncos in 2016, even if he did play again — and anyone should be able to figure out why Osweiler would be upset about that.
Broncos general manager John Elway doesn’t seem to get that, however, or doesn’t want to.
“I can understand that he didn’t want to sit down and have Peyton come back in that San Diego game, but it wasn’t the fact that Brock was playing bad,” Elway told the Denver Post’s Nicki Jhabvala in a great sit-down, two-part interview. “We needed a change of something. So I was a little surprised just how he seemed to be a little bent out of shape about that. But he had an opportunity to make a tremendous amount of money in Houston, and for us, it just didn’t fit.”
Elway, of all people, shouldn’t be surprised at all by it. He was one of the great competitors of his era. The Broncos didn’t do much to make Osweiler feel like he was their quarterback. It wasn’t just the benching, either. You can say that the Broncos made the right decision to go to Manning in Week 17 (the Super Bowl trophy is proof) or that they shouldn’t have paid Osweiler anywhere near the $18 million per year he got paid by the Houston Texans, but that’s beside the point. The Broncos shoved Osweiler aside a couple times, and he decided to figure out if another team valued him more in free agency. The Texans did. That’s business. The Broncos did what they felt was best, but can’t then act shocked Osweiler left. The Broncos chose to alienate Osweiler, then are acting surprised that Osweiler was put off by being alienated. It can’t work both ways.
Osweiler owed the Broncos absolutely nothing. When called upon last season, he did his job. The Broncos would not have won Super Bowl 50 without his contribution over the seven starts he made for Manning. His contract was up and was allowed to explore his options. There’s not much more to it.
The Osweiler situation led to a quarterback scramble for the Broncos, and they finally landed Mark Sanchez (who hasn’t yet been able to beat out 2015 seventh-round pick Trevor Siemian in camp) and drafted Paxton Lynch in the first round. The Broncos had a significant talent drain this offseason, like many Super Bowl champs — talented players like Malik Jackson, Danny Trevathan and Evan Mathis will play elsewhere this season — but Elway believes that the team got better.
Yes, better.
“That’s how I look at our team this offseason: Did we get better as a football team? I believe we did,” Elway told the Denver Post. “And the other thing is, when people are doubting you, it adds that incentive. We’re kind of in that situation right now. Hopefully we can continue to use that chip and keep ourselves mentally on the right track.”
I understand, Elway has to say that. I like Elway, I think Elway has done a fantastic job as a GM, but that statement is a little crazy. You can’t look at the talent that left, the talent that came in and come to the conclusion that the roster is better. The Broncos still might win another Super Bowl, because a lot of the great core players who helped them win Super Bowl 50 are still around. The defense should be the best in the NFL again. But the roster isn’t better, on the whole.
The Broncos are one of the most fascinating teams in the NFL this season. A lot went right last season, the roster took some hits in the offseason (sorry, John) but the team still has a lot of top-level talent. Elway could still get the last laugh in all this.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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