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Oct 11, 2016

Texans’ attempt at franchise QB a bust

The Texans apparently saw something in Brock Osweiler during his stint in Denver and gave him a cool $72 million. | Courtesy of Jeffrey Beall/WIkiCommon Media

When the Houston Texans signed Brock Osweiler to a $72 million deal, they assumed that they were getting a franchise quarterback.

Five games into the season, Osweiler has been horrible, even if his $18 million per year salary isn’t taken into account.

He has declined in nearly every statistical category this year. His touchdowns per pass have decreased by half a percent. At the same time, his interception rate has almost doubled and is greater than his touchdown percentage.

The Texans were quick to waive Brian Hoyer in the offseason, although his stats were comparable to Osweiler’s.

The only thing that Osweiler had over Hoyer was the potential to be a quality quarterback. Hoyer has been in the league for eight years now, and teams know what to expect from him in terms of production, whereas there was a hope for the Texans that Osweiler could improve.

Last season, Osweiler’s completion percentage was only one percent better than Hoyer’s, and he only passed for nine yards more per game than Hoyer. Hoyer actually finished with a better touchdown-to-turnover ratio and had a higher quarterback rating.

After last season, Hoyer signed with the Chicago Bears as a backup after the Texans cut him. Hoyer is now the starting quarterback in Chicago after Jay Cutler went down in week two.

Not sure Bill O’Brien is watching the same player as everyone else.

Since taking over, Hoyer has thrown just 39 fewer yards than Osweiler on the season despite sitting out the first game and a half. He also has thrown as many touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception, which is something Osweiler has done seven times already this year.

The best part is that Hoyer is playing better than Osweiler this season while making just 8.33 percent of what his replacement is earning.

Not to mention, Osweiler is guaranteed more money through his contract than 19 other quarterbacks, most of whom are outperforming the $72 million man.

If Osweiler plays an entire season and finishes at the rate he is going, he’ll have 3625.6 passing yards, 19.2 touchdowns and 22.4 interceptions. Those stats make Blake Bortles look like an all-NFL quarterback.