Elway rips Osweiler, 'We only want players who want to be here'
John Elway didn't even want Brock Osweiler.
By
John Breech
•
2 min read
Thanks to Brock Osweiler's decision to sign with Houston, the Broncos don't have a starting quarterback.
That fact doesn't seem to be bothering John Elway though, because apparently, he would rather have no quarterback than someone who doesn't want to play for the Broncos, like Osweiler.
In his first comments since losing Osweiler, Elway took a few subtle jabs at his former quarterback.
"We've stayed true to our philosophy of building a team with players who want to be Denver Broncos and want to be here," Elway said, via the Broncos website. "That's been a successful approach for us."
Ouch. That stings. Elway is clearly implying that Osweiler didn't want to be in Denver, which actually might have some truth to it. At least one report on Wednesday indicated that Osweiler didn't want to play in Peyton Manning's shadow.
That's not where the Osweiler-bashing stopped though. The Broncos website also made sure to point out that the team won Super Bowl 50 with "sub-optimal" quarterbacking in 2015, alluding to both Osweiler and Manning.
From the Broncos' website:
"Considering that the Broncos won it all with sub-optimal, near-replacement-level quarterbacking, they like their chances of remaining a contender with even modest improvement under center. Between the various avenues for roster-building, there appear to be avenues where they can find it."
Elway also added that there was no way Denver was going to overpay for a quarterback like Osweiler.
"While we did offer a very competitive and fair long-term contract to Brock, we ultimately had to remain disciplined while continuing to assemble a roster that can compete for championships," Elway said.
The bidding war for Osweiler got out of hand for the Broncos once the price topped $16 million per year. The Broncos reportedly went as high as $16 million per season with their offer before Osweiler decided to go with the Texans' offer of $18 million-a-year ($72 million overall, $37 million guaranteed).
So what's next for the Broncos?
Denver's going to be looking for a quarterback, of course.
"We've now turned our attention to other options at quarterback and are confident that we’ll find the right player and person for our team," Elway said. "Our organization thanks Brock for his contributions and wishes him all the best."
Osweiler's departure means that the Broncos will be the first Super Bowl champs since the 2000 Ravens to enter the next season without their top-two starting quarterbacks.
