Houston Texans: Brock Osweiler is the ultimate test for Bill O’Brien
By Randy Gurzi
What’s up with the deal he got?
Houston paid a fortune to lure Brock away from Denver and the bashing is getting brutal.
Let’s get two misconceptions out of the way though. One, no matter what you hear, Bill O’Brien wanted Osweiler. As recently as Monday night, analysts and pundits alike are trying to spin this thing as if general manager Rick Smith and owner Bob McNair went and signed the 6-foot-8 passer and forced him upon O’Brien.
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That’s the dumbest storyline ever. The reason for it is because due to NFL rules the coach and quarterback could not meet during the odd “legal tampering period.” This obviously means O’Brien was sitting at home eating Bugles, downing mountain dews and watching the ESPN ticker to see if his team made any moves, right?
That’s the ludicrous idea being floated out there. Let’s get real, O’Brien said he wanted him, and the team made it happen. If you don’t believe O’Brien has that kind of pull, look at how many former Patriots he brought with him during his three seasons here.
The issue wasn’t that the coach and player didn’t meet. The issue is that they weren’t allowed to. That’s a fault of the leagues, not Houston’s. They believed in Brock and weren’t going to risk losing him on the off chance that he and O’Brien would have not liked each other’s personalities.
The second issue is the money. Everyone is destroying Houston for what they paid Osweiler, but they had to. Denver offered a similar deal and everyone loves the work of their general manager John Elway. If Elway thought Osweiler was worth close to what Houston paid, than most teams probably thought it.
Truth be told, Houston did overpay. That’s a given. Even if Brock met his potential, that would still be true, but that’s what you have to do to steal a player in today’s free agency bidding.
Now it’s going to be up to Bill O’Brien to get the most out of the guy they targeted to guide this franchise.