Broncos’ “Plan B” Officially Plan Brock Osweiler

Brock Osweiler (6) passes the ball during the second half against the Kansas City Chiefs. (Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports)

After the Denver Broncos signed Peyton Manning, John Elway said, “Plan B? We don’t have Plan B. We’re going Plan A” with a giant smile on his face.

In one of the hallways at Dove Valley, there’s a sign that says “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”

Of course, the Broncos came up with their Plan B that draft because failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Plan B is plan Brock. Truth be told, if Brock Osweiler decided to wait a year before declaring for the draft, he could have easily been a top 10 pick in this year’s draft.

Instead Osweiler went 57th overall in the second round. He spent all of last season learning from the best in the game as the team’s backup quarterback after Manning and before Caleb Hanie.

“Brock is making strides every day,” offensive coordinator Adam Gase said Wednesday afternoon. “His biggest thing that he has done is his demeanor right now has really taken a step up. He’s very calm, understands our offense, able to direct other players in the huddle. That’s something we were really looking for coming out into the spring.”

Osweiler has spent the off season working on his mechanics with former Arizona State offensive coordinator, Noel Mazzone. Mazzone is now UCLA’s offensive coordinator, and he got a lot of publicity after working with Tim Tebow.

The 6-7, 242-pound quarterback committed to Gonzaga to play basketball before changing his mind to football at ASU. In actuality, he could probably play baseball as well. He throws some serious strikes to his receivers.

“If he [QB Coach Greg Knapp] feels like he’s [Osweiler] throwing too many fastballs, he’ll tell him to take a little off and know who you’re throwing to,” Gase said. “Obviously, when you’re throwing to a receiver you might juice it up a little bit. Sometimes halfbacks, tight ends—maybe not so much. Our tight ends, I wouldn’t really worry about it. We have guys with some pretty good hands.”

Osweiler’s rookie year went a little something like this: He played in five games, with his first action coming as he took a knee on the Broncos’ final snap of its 37-6 win against Oakland. He also touched the ball four times in Denver’s final series against New Orleans. There he handed it off twice and took two kneeldowns. He finished off the Broncos wins at Baltimore and against Cleveland. Then he complete his first NFL pass for a 5-yard gain on 3rd-and-4 against Kansas City.

The most memorable parts of Osweiler’s rookie year probably came off the field. Hopefully they came in the classroom with Manning wearing the professor’s hat.

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