Tag: Brock Osweiler

Brock Osweiler was the best player to wear No. 17 for the Broncos

Brock Osweiler went 5-2 filling in for an injured Peyton Manning in 2015, helping the Broncos secure the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

We’ve reached No. 17 in our series of the best player to wear each jersey number for the Denver Broncos, and this one might be slightly controversial.

Brock Osweiler was the best player to don No. 17 in Denver. Yes, Brock Osweiler.

Some Broncos fans might scoff at the notion, but Osweiler was a key member of the team’s 2015 squad that won Super Bowl 50. When starting quarterback Peyton Manning went down with an injury that season, Osweiler stepped in and went 5-2 as a starter, helping Denver secure the No. 1 seed in the AFC’s playoff race.

That No. 1 seed gave the Broncos home-field advantage in the playoffs, a crucial part of the team’s journey to Super Bowl 50. Osweiler completed 61.8% of his passes for 1,967 yards with 10 touchdowns against six interceptions that season. Not amazing, but good enough to win five important games.

Never mind that Osweiler left the club for a big contract the following offseason and never quite lived up to the hype. He played a key role in Denver’s Super Bowl-winning season in 2015, and that’s a more impressive resume than any other player to wear No. 17 for the Broncos.

Steve DeBerg spent three years in Denver wearing No. 17, but he went 5-7 as a starter (including a loss in the playoffs). Osweiler had a shorter tenure with the Broncos, but his time with the team had a much bigger impact.

Shout out to Brock Osweiler, Super Bowl 50 champion.

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Announcers named for Tennessee-Iowa Citrus Bowl

Announcers named for the Citrus Bowl between Tennessee and Iowa.

No. 23 Tennessee (8-4, 4-4 SEC) will play No. 17 Iowa (10-3, 7-2 Big Ten) in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2024.

Rankings reflect the US LBM Coaches Poll.

Kickoff between the Vols and Hawkeyes is slated for 1 p.m. EST. ABC will televise the matchup at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

Dave Fleming (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (analyst) and Kayla Burton (sideline) will be on the call.

“Our entire program is so excited to have the opportunity to come to the city of Orlando, represent Tennessee football and our university on New Year’s day,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. “This is a huge opportunity.

“It goes without saying that we understand the quality of the that we are facing in Iowa. It’s a proud football program. Coach (Kirk) Ferentz has done an unbelievable job over his tenure there.”

READ: Iowa’s depth chart for Citrus Bowl versus Tennessee

READ: Tennessee-Iowa Citrus Bowl transfer portal and opt-outs tracker

Peyton Manning (18) and Brock Osweiler (17). Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Broncos’ 5-game winning streak is their longest since Super Bowl run

For the first time since their Super Bowl season in 2015, the Broncos have won five games in a row. Can they keep the streak going?

The Denver Broncos are now 6-5 after winning five straight games and getting back into the playoff mix following a disastrous 1-5 start.

Denver won games against the Green Bay Packers (19-17), Kansas City Chiefs (24-9), Buffalo Bills (24-22), Minnesota Vikings (21-20) and Cleveland Browns (29-12) over the last six weeks (the Broncos had a bye in Week 9).

This five-game run marks the team’s longest single-season winning streak since 2015, the year Denver won Super Bowl 50. That season, Peyton Manning won seven straight games from Sept. 13 to Nov. 1.

After Peyton Manning suffered an injury in Week 9 that season, Brock Osweiler stepped in and went 5-3 as a starter to help the Broncos finish as the AFC’s No. 1 seed with a 12-4 record.

Here’s a look at the team’s longest single-season winning streaks dating back to Tim Tebow’s six-game winning streak in 2011.

Year Games
2012 11
2015 7
2013 6
2011 6
2023 5

With a victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday, the Broncos would match their six-game runs from 2011 and 2013. Denver needs two more wins to match the 2015 streak. The Broncos would need to win out this season to match 2012’s 11-game winning streak.

First things first, though: Denver will focus on Houston this week.

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Reliving Tom Brady’s most memorable losses to the Broncos

Here’s a look back at Tom Brady’s most memorable losses to the Broncos.

At age 45, Tom Brady has (hopefully) announced his retirement for the last time. Brady and the Denver Broncos have clashed many times over the years, most of the games resulting in classic quarterback duels, championship matchups and memorable moments. Brady finished his career 9-9 against Denver, 8-6 in the regular season and 1-3 in the postseason.

Broncos fans love to hate Brady, whose face often makes appearances on the Ball Arena Jumbotron to make fans boo louder.

In honor of Brady’s retirement, we’re taking a look back at his five most memorable losses to Denver.

We will not do this series again, in the chance that Brady pulls a Brett Favre, which is immortalized by this hilarious This is SportsCenter sketch.

Former Browns QB Brock Osweiler has a new job

Osweiler wasn’t in Cleveland for long but his trade to the Browns remains one of the NFL’s most memorable deals

His time in Cleveland did not last long, but who can forget the Brock Osweiler era with the Browns?

Osweiler has now hung up his NFL cleats and moved onto a new role. Per Al Butler of UPI, Osweiler has been hired by ESPN as a college football analyst for the upcoming season.

Osweiler had a brief but very interesting stint with the Browns in 2017. Cleveland traded a fourth-round pick in that 2017 NFL draft to the Houston Texans in order to help the Texans unload Osweiler. The Browns also picked up a second-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft and a sixth-rounder in 2017 in order for the Texans to dump Osweiler’s big contract. That acquired second-round pick became Nick Chubb.

The unusual trade put Osweiler in position to compete with Cody Kessler, Kevin Hogan and second-round rookie DeShone Kizer in the summer of 2017. Kizer ultimately won the job and Osweiler was released before the (winless) regular season. Osweiler had one more season in Denver and a stint in 2018 with the Miami Dolphins and has not played in the NFL since.

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Broncos GM George Paton is fixing the mistake John Elway made 10 years ago

The Broncos made a mistake in 2012 when they drafted Brock Osweiler over Russell Wilson. Ten years later, George Paton is fixing that mistake.

John Elway made his greatest move as a general manager – one of the best transactions in Denver Broncos history – when he signed Peyton Manning as a free agent in 2012.

Elway successfully wooing Manning was no small feat, and it helped the Broncos attract other marquee free agents like DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, Emmanuel Sanders and T.J. Ward as Denver reached two Super Bowls in four years, winning Super Bowl 50 in Manning’s final season.

Elway’s tenure as GM certainly wasn’t perfect, but he deserves credit for what he got right, particularly Manning. Without Elway, the Broncos probably wouldn’t land Manning, and without Manning, Denver wouldn’t have reached those two Super Bowls.

Elway also deserves criticism for what he got wrong, though, like failing to set the team up for success in the post-Manning era.

In 2012, the same year the Broncos signed Manning, Denver looked to the draft to add a long-term quarterback to be Manning’s eventual replacement.

Elway seemingly wanted a prototypical quarterback much like himself. Arizona State’s Brock Osweiler (6-7) fit the bill, and Elway used a second-round pick to select him over Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson (5-11), who went to the Seattle Seahawks in the third round.

Of course, re-signing Wilson after Manning’s retirement might have been difficult for the Broncos (they failed to reach an extension with Osweiler after Manning retired), but drafting Wilson over Osweiler still would have been a better choice. Elway was slow to adjust to the NFL’s changing QB era, and it was a mistake to pass on Wilson.

New general manager George Paton is fixing Elway’s mistake, but the fix comes with a hefty price tag. Denver has agreed to trade tight end Noah Fant, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, quarterback Drew Lock, two first-round picks, two second-round picks and fifth-round pick to the Seahawks in exchange for Wilson and a fourth-round pick.

Osweiler fit Elway’s expectations for a quarterback’s measurables and traits. Wilson didn’t. Paton doesn’t have the same expectations for a QB.

“I think height, as we’ve learned, there’s some QBs that aren’t over 6 feet who are dynamic,” Paton said at the NFL combine last week, via DNVR’s Andrew Mason. “When I first got into the league, everyone wanted a 6-5 QB, right? Who could really throw it. Didn’t matter if they moved. Well, the league’s changed.“

Paton was being asked about QB prospects entering this year’s draft when he gave that response, but it applies well to Wilson, one of the most dynamic QBs in the NFL despite his height.

It took ten years and cost multiple players and draft picks, but the Broncos are amending their mistake. Denver’s in good hands with Paton.

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Alabama Football: Bill O’Brien’s quarterbacks by the numbers

Roll Tide Wire takes a dive into every starting quarterback’s numbers under new Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.

Steve Sarkisian is off to Austin as the new head coach of the Texas Longhorns, and that move left Alabama looking for a new offensive coordinator who can call plays.

After some back-and-forth, the Crimson Tide landed on former Houston Texans and Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien.

The move was considered an odd one by some, but O’Brien is still highly respected as an offensive mind. His time as a head coach has seen plenty of ups and downs, but he should have plenty to work with in Tuscaloosa.

Let’s look a little bit at his past, though.

His most noteworthy success came in his five seasons under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots. His first two seasons were as an analyst and wide receivers coach, but his final three years included being Tom Brady’s quarterbacks coach and eventual, his offensive coordinator.

The connection between Belichick and Alabama head coach Nick Saban is obvious, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to know that relationship factored into the decision to bring O’Brien in — similarly to when Brian Daboll was hired back in 2017.

There is also some recruiting incentives with O’Brien.

It’s always nice to have a former NFL head coach roaming your sidelines when it comes to attracting high-profile high school recruits. As of right now, Alabama has added two this offseason with O’Brien and new offensive line coach Doug Marrone.

But what about O’Brien success with quarterbacks since leaving New England and Brady? Well, Roll Tide Wire dove into the numbers for the top quarterback on each of O’Brien’s teams since he became a head coach in 2012.

The results were … interesting. Take a look for yourself.

Jets were willing to eat money in Le’Veon Bell trade, but injury guarantee scared teams

The Jets were reportedly willing to eat money in a potential Le’Veon Bell trade, but teams were scared off by an injury gurnatee for 2021.

As they did in the Leonard Williams trade last season, the Jets were willing to eat money in a potential Le’Veon Bell trade. Even with that, opposing teams shied away from making a deal with Gang Green because of Bell’s injury guarantee for the 2021 season, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini.

Bell was cut on Tuesday night.

The Jets tried desperately to trade Bell this week after his frustrations reached a boiling following New York’s 30-10 loss to Arizona in Week 5. Bell returned to the lineup after missing three games with a hamstring injury. He had 13 carries for 60 yards, but just one catch on one target in the passing game. That didn’t sit well with him.

Bell refused to speak with the media after the conclusion of Sunday’s game. Instead, he went on Twitter and liked tweets that suggested he was being used improperly and that the Jets should trade him.

While Joe Douglas made his best last-ditch efforts to trade the former All-Pro back, Cimini reports that the biggest deterrent for teams was Bell’s $8 million injury guarantee in 2021, not his remaining $6 million 2020 base salary.

Bell has clearly lost a step and has dealt with various lower-body injuries since signing with the Jets in 2019. It’s understandable why a team wouldn’t want to trade an asset for such a risk. The Jets likely would have had to attach a draft pick, much akin to the Texans shipping Brock Osweiler and his $16 million guaranteed salary with a second-round pick to the Browns in 2017.

Given how poorly structured the Jets roster is, there was no way Douglas was going to part with a valuable asset. The Jets found no takers for Bell, so they eventually opted to release him on Tuesday. His release leaves behind $15 million in dead cap for the 2020 season and another $4 million in 2021, per Spotrac.

Bell will now likely sign with a contender who won’t have to worry about an injury guarantee next season.

Broncos offered Brock Osweiler a 3-year, $39M contract in 2016

Brock Osweiler received a massive contract when he left the Broncos in 2016. If he could go back in time, he’d probably re-sign with Denver.

After spending the first four years of his career as Peyton Manning‘s backup and coming off the bench as an injury replacement in 2015, former Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler became an unrestricted free agent in 2016.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Greg Bishop, Osweiler looked back on that offseason and his (lack of) negotiations with Denver.

Osweiler was advised by his agents to not take any calls from Broncos general manager John Elway after a certain cutoff date leading up to NFL free agency. Osweiler listened to their advice but he now regrets doing so, according to Bishop.

Elway made a three-year, $39 million offer to Osweiler’s agents, the former QB told Bishop. That deal would have averaged $13 million per season. The four-year, $72 million deal that he later signed with the Texans averaged $18 million per season, but he didn’t finish it.

Houston guaranteed Osweiler $37 million over three years. That’s less than what he could have earned with the Broncos if he had fulfilled the entire proposed three-year deal from Elway, but that wouldn’t have been guaranteed.

Financially, it made sense to accept the contract with more certainty. Osweiler made over $41 million during his seven-year career in the NFL, according to Spotrac.com. He’d probably be willing to trade some of that money now to go back in time and get a chance to finish his career with the Broncos instead of leaving the team and Gary Kubiak‘s system.

Things didn’t work out in Houston and he lasted just one season with the Texans before bouncing around with four different teams — including another short stop in Denver — before ultimately deciding to retire. If he could do it all over again, Osweiler probably would have re-signed with the Broncos in 2016.

“I would have called John two weeks before that [offer] and told him, ‘Listen I want to be a Bronco until I die. If you want me, let’s get this done,'” Osweiler told Bishop.

“We might have won the Super Bowl the next year,” Osweiler said.

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