HOUSTON — Texans general manager Rick Smith confirmed today that the team will seek to lessen the cap hit of Brock Osweiler’s massive contract so the team can sign other players, specifically one player who is much better at playing quarterback than Brock Osweiler.
“Brock is the kind of player who wants to win and so what’s best for the team,” said Smith. “And unless his self-awareness is even worse than his field awareness, he knows that for us to be good, he can never get on the field again. Like ever. Under no circumstances. But, unfortunately, we’re paying him like a franchise QB right now, so it’s going to be hard to replace him.”
The Texans signed Osweiler to a 4-year, $72 million contract with $37 million guaranteed and a $12 million signing bonus back in March. The contract has an average cap hit of $20 million a year through the 2019 season.
“To cut him, and he deserves to be cut because he is truly awful, we’d have to swallow a ton of money and that would make it impossible to sign a good or even decent quarterback,” said head coach Bill O’Brien. “And, of course, if we keep him and keep paying him and keep playing him, we may as well fold the franchise. So the only option is getting him to reduce his deal.”
Osweiler has indicated he is open to the idea: “Making a few million a year to never play isn’t the worst option. It would allow me to stop embarrassing my self in public.”
But even if the Texans do renegotiate Osweiler’s deal, there are limited quarterback options available.
“I guess we could trade for Jay Cutler?” said Smith. “Oh, god. What have I done.”
