Free Agent QB Brock Osweiler has important decision

Denver Broncos quarterback and soon-to-be free agent Brock Osweiler has a very important decision to make about his future in the NFL very soon…

Hopefully Super Bowl 50 won’t be the only time we see Brock Osweiler celebrating a championship with the Denver Broncos. All the talk about Peyton Manning’s decision about his future coming up has far less to do with the future of the Broncos than does the decision of a 25-year old backup QB that has plenty of leverage going into this offseason.

You need stable quarterback play in the NFL. For the better part of seven games, Brock Osweiler provided that for the Denver Broncos. When Peyton Manning was darn near a hinderance to this team’s Super Bowl aspirations just past the halfway mark of the season, Osweiler stepped up on his 25th birthday and got the Broncos a road win against the Chicago Bears and former Denver head coach John Fox.

It was a critical time for Osweiler, who took his job on a week-by-week basis, and never complained about the uncertainty of his future in Denver. Every time he’s been out on the field, we’ve seen glimpses of the type of QB Osweiler is capable of being, and we’ve also seen him experience plenty of low points.

For the most part, though, it was clear in his time out on the field this past season that Osweiler deserves at least the highest consideration for the starting QB job in Denver for 2016 and beyond. It might not have played out the way the front office had hoped, but there is now a third Lombardi Trophy in Denver and the future has been risked (in a way) to get it.

The Broncos have some major free agent decisions to make this offseason, starting with Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and his partners in crime defensively Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan.

Those three players alone are probably the Broncos’ top three priorities in terms of the guys with the best ability, but Osweiler has the great leverage of playing the NFL’s most important position, and the Broncos potentially staring at a situation with only Trevor Siemian on the active roster at the early portion of March and beyond that.

But as much leverage as Osweiler has in this situation, the Broncos also have plenty as well. There is a job opening as the quarterback of the Super Bowl champions — we assume Peyton Manning is calling it a career, wisely — and the situation couldn’t be more perfect for Osweiler.

Here are the keys to the franchise. Here is the confidence of the coaching staff and the front office. Here is a chance to write your own legacy. The young QB who was once hand-picked by John Elway to be the successor to a Hall of Famer now has the decision of his life at hand. Will he re-sign with the Denver Broncos, his childhood team and the team that made him a professional football player? Or will he fly to the first city that offers him way more money than he’s worth?

We’ve seen the latter happen plenty in today’s NFL. Greed is very powerful. There were rumors floating around on Twitter this morning about how the salary cap-rich Cleveland Browns would have half a mind to throw a ton of money at Osweiler and see if he won’t take the bait.

But would you really want to walk into that mess? No offense to Cleveland, or any other NFL franchise right now, but is there a better situation out there for Osweiler than the one in Denver?

Sure, he was probably unfairly benched in the last regular season game, but better to happen at halftime of the Chargers game than for him to lead the team to the #1 seed only to be benched for a healthy Peyton Manning anyway in the playoffs. We all know that would have happened.

Sure, he had to wait a lot longer than he would have liked, and most certainly, he didn’t get nearly enough credit for the way he helped this team to a Super Bowl title.

All of that being said, the stars are aligned for Osweiler to take the reins of the best team in the NFL. The stars are aligned for him to have the benefit of the top defense in the league if he re-signs at a reasonable rate, and lets the Broncos continue to build around him.

The weapons in the passing game are in place, and thanks to Julius Thomas’ ridiculous contract with the Jaguars, the Broncos are soon to be armed with not just three but four picks in the top 100 of the up-coming NFL Draft.

With an aggressive general manager in John Elway who will do anything to win willing to back him up, there’s no question where Brock Osweiler belongs in 2016 and beyond. The question is, will he make the right choice?