6. Brock Osweiler (2012-15, 17)
Brock Osweiler was drafted in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft—the same year that Peyton Manning joined the team. Osweiler played sparingly over the next three season, throwing just 30 passes.
His real action came during the Super Bowl season, in 2015. Manning suffered a major foot injury (partial tear of the plantar fascia), paving the way for Osweiler to start seven games.
He went 5-2 in those starts, completing 170-of-275 passes (61.8 percent) for 1,967 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Overall, Osweiler went 5-6 during his two stints in Denver, but he was a huge factor in leading the team into position for the playoffs, and ultimately a Super Bowl victory.
Unfortunately, reports came out that, when he hit free agency, Osweiler was instructed to dodge calls from Broncos general manager John Elway from his agent. That made it clear that he was going to sign somewhere else, which he did. He signed a huge contract with the Texans.
After one year in Houston, Osweiler was traded to the Cleveland Browns but ended up not playing for them.
Osweiler’s second stint with the Broncos
In his second stint with the Broncos, he was in competition with 2015 seventh-round pick Trevor Siemian and 2016 first-round pick Paxton Lynch. Siemian won the starting job but Osweiler started four games that year, losing all of them.
Despite the losing record with the Broncos, Osweiler needs to be credited for taking on a large task of helping the team on its way to the Super Bowl. It probably would have been a disaster if it weren’t for him. He needs to receive more credit than he does.
Siemian vs Osweiler debate
I think the deciding factor for putting Osweiler ahead of Siemian is simply due to the impact Osweiler made on the Super Bowl team.
You definitely can argue that Siemian should be ahead of him due to his draft status, but the Broncos hadn’t gotten to the playoffs with Siemian at quarterback.
I think that despite this, however, this ranking was closer than some people may think. The Broncos hadn’t had an overly exciting quarterback following the retirement of Manning, so I think that following in No. 18’s footsteps could have hurt both players a little bit.