ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Brock Osweiler messed up. He knows.
“I tried to make the best business decision for myself and my family,” he explained media on Monday. “Whether I made the best one or not, that could be argued.”
It sure can. It sure has been.
Financially, of course, Brock’s decision was a no-brainer. He did exactly what anyone advising an NFL player would tell them to do. Like the NFLPA would suggest, he took the largest sum of guaranteed money as well as the largest amount per year.
He followed agent’s protocol by not taking calls from the Broncos while he had a better offer on the table. The agent’s job is to get you as much money as possible, they don’t want your teammates and the front office to get a hold of your heart strings, they want all contact to go through them. After all, their only loyalty is to dollar bills.
As hard as it was, Brock played it the way you’re supposed to. Maybe he let some of his success get to his head. Maybe he thought he deserved a chance to lead a Super Bowl team. Deep down, though, he knew he was leaving something out.
“I didn’t sleep for about a week,” he explained. “I was sick to my stomach every single day. I was a mess.”
Brock Osweiler learned a lesson that we can all take something from. If you aren’t one of the many that have already learned it, that is.
We aren’t money-powered robots; we are humans, we have emotions. We have connections to the places we call home, connections to people. We are far more complicated than a simple math equation of X is greater than Y. We make mistakes.
On Monday, a professional athlete stood in front of a large group of media at Denver Broncos headquarters and looked as human as you’ll ever see. This was not some guy who was faking his way through a press conference, trying to say the right things and be a pro. This was a guy who was grateful, thankful and excited. A guy who even missed the media. A guy who, more than anything else, appeared beyond relieved to be back home.
“My wife and I, we missed Colorado every single day,” he admitted.
Can you blame him?
The man once thought to be the “QB of the future” for the Denver Broncos ended up in Houston with a coach who wasn’t all that thrilled about him. He was benched. Next, he ended up on a team that had so much cap space they were willing to pay his $16 million salary for the second-round pick included in the trade. As expected, he was cut.
In the last 18 months, Brock Osweiler became a very rich man. He also went through some “negative things,” as he called them. But he became a father to a baby girl named Blake. He grew up. He realized that money isn’t everything.
The veteran quarterback had to “touch the hot stove,” as he explained and he really shouldn’t be blamed for that. Many of us humans would have done the same thing. Given a second chance as a free agent, though, Brock took matters into his own burned hands.
“I basically told my agency, ‘Listen, I love and respect you guys, and I love what you guys do, but if there’s an offer from Denver, I don’t care if it’s a dollar, that’s where we’re going.’
There was no posturing this time. In fact, on Monday, he sounded more like a guy who would have begged if he had to. He thanked Vance Joseph five times, thanked John Elway “up and down.”
You can hate him, just know that he loves you.
“I understand the anger, frustration, whatever you want to call it,” he said to Broncos fans. “Like I said earlier, I’ve never had anything but love and appreciation for this city and this organization. I just hope in time those fans who feel that way let me earn back their trust and get a great relationship again.”
Fans, taking Elway’s lead, often talk about only wanting players who want to be Broncos. The very fact that Brock appeared to not fit that mold is the main reason for the overwhelming hate for him in the fan base. But know this, while it may have taken him 18 months of hell to figure it out, just about nobody wanted to be a Denver Bronco more than Brock Osweiler.
0 Comments (7 conversations)
An Osweiler apologist column? Why dude, WHY?! You’re not even going to make him earn back the trust a little bit? A silver tongue gets him off the hook after leaving us high and dry and running for the money after Peyton let him inherit a team fresh off a Super Bowl win?! I DON’T THINK SO. THIS IS A GARBAGE ARTICLE. I’m willing to let him back into our colors and forgive, but he needs to earn it by working hard every day for months and months, not being here for 24 hours and saying he wants to be a Bronco. You’re the type of writer who stays in bad relationships because the other person abuses the fact that you’re a pushover. Grow a pair and hold people accountable.
Good article though it’s obviously not a popular position. Thing is, we fans are not likely to see how Osweiller will “earn trust” from the Broncos. I doubt he will see the field. That he was willing to come back to be Trevor’s backup was huge as far as I was concerned. When he left, I thought he had an unreal view of himself. He, and the Houston fans, saw him as the Texans’ savior. He was going to take them to the Super Bowl. When that didn’t happen, when he got benched, when he got farmed out to Cleveland (Cleveland!) and then released, it brought him down to earth. I have never heard him sound so . . . human. He didn’t sound like he was weighing his words, saying the right things in order to be proper. He was talking from his heart and didn’t care how it made him look. He even said he’d come back as the water boy if he had to. He said he’d play in bare feet if need be. Those are not the words of someone who wants people to think of him as Great. He just wants to be in Denver, and I respect that, especially because he understands his role. Good for him.
This is a terrific article. Honest and insightful. It’s the kind of reporting I really appreciate. He was there to see and listen to Osweiler and I wasn’t. And he seems to have nailed it.
I wish the local Denver sportswriters were that good.
Thanks, Preston!
I am a local Denver sportswriter! Lol
If the guy had a brain in his head, he’d have realized that he’s the second coming of Tim Tebow. He doesn’t belong in the NFL. He’s just not good enough. $16 M (less taxes, mind you) is an extraordinary nest egg that he can live on comfortably for life. He’d never have to work again. I’m a financial advisor and I can guarantee it.
If he cared so deeply about the Broncos, he’d have realized that he’s poison for our team right now. But all he cares about is himself. I could care less if he loves Denver. He can live here and be a Broncos fan like the rest of us. But don’t come here and mess up our team. It’s at a crucial juncture with all the young players we have. We need stability and focus. He definitely does NOT bring either of those here.
Precisely.
I understand the Broncos cutting TJ Ward, and I understand Osweiler leaving for the money in Texas. The NFL is at its core a business no matter how much we as fans don’t want to think about it. I’m glad Osweiler is back, he makes our team stronger AND is inexpensive.
I still think we should have held onto Sloter and that tantalizing potential…in other news, why is Steve Atwater not in the HOF? Check out this awesome Atwater highlight video! GO Broncos!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Cv5UmQvG4
I understand the Broncos cutting TJ Ward, and I understand Osweiler leaving for the money in Texas – even though both of those moves sucked. The NFL is at its core a business, no matter how much we as fans don’t want to think about it. I’m glad Osweiler is back, he makes our team stronger AND is inexpensive. O’Brien is a destroyer of QB’s, and perhaps Osweiler can redeem himself and his career here to some degree. I don’t believe he has the same level of touch on the ball as Trevor Siemian, and I don’t seem him being nearly as good at reading defenses, but as a backup? He’s a steady solid guy. The Broncos staff must feel the same way AND they must feel very confident with the QB room as a whole or they would not have let the Vikings out bid them for Kyle Sloter. Given how much they are paying our new PS RB – it clearly shows that PS or not – If they want you, they will make it happen.