Brock Osweiler will be part of open competition for Texans' starting QB job

A year after signing Osweiler, Houston is still looking for a franchise quarterback

It certainly feels like more than 51 weeks since the Texans decided to solve their quarterback woes by signing Brock Osweiler to a four-year, $72 million deal that included $37 million guaranteed. Instead of upgrading the position held by Brian Hoyer and Brandon Weeden the season before, Osweiler was a substantial downgrade, a reality made worse by his enormous new contract.

We’re not joking; Hoyer ranked 20th among all quarterbacks in 2015, according to Football Outsiders’ metrics; in 2016, Osweiler ranked next to last, ahead of only Jared Goff. It got so hard to watch that Texans coach Bill O’Brien benched Osweiler in December, and he ended his inaugural campaign in Houston completing just 59 percent of his passes with 15 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

It’s certainly understandable why the Texans gambled on Osweiler -- a season of Hoyer and Weeden brought home the fact that a team without a franchise quarterback doesn’t have a chance. But Osweiler was worse than his predecessors and that futility came with an $18 million-a-year price tag.

It’s why, despite his hefty contract, that Osweiler is guaranteed nothing going forward. Like just about everybody else on the roster, the quarterback will have to earn the right to play in 2017.

“Competition is open with every position on our team, obviously with the exception of a few,” O’Brien said from the NFL combine this week, via ESPN.com. “But the majority of positions on our team -- that’s what we’ve based our program on from the day we walked in here. We’ve based our program on competition and competing in practice.

“The depth chart changes with us. I think you guys have seen that whether it’s quarterback or any other position. So that’s what our team is based on. That’s what our coaching staff believes in. Competition will always be a part of our program here.”

O’Brien’s comments come a month after team owner Bob McNair said that competition for the QB job will include Tom Savage, who replaced Osweiler in the lineup in Weeks 16 and 17, and perhaps a quarterback taken in the 2017 NFL Draft.

“The challenge is what can we do with what we got,” McNair said at the time, via the Houston Chronicle. “We’ll still probably look at a young quarterback as we go into the draft. It’s a question of what’s available.”

As for Osweiler, McNair was frank: “It’s up to him to meet the challenge,” the owner said. “He has to step up. We need better performance out of the position.”

If the Texans decide to sign or draft another quarterback, let’s hope O’Brien at least meets him before the introductory press conference.

In case you’re wondering, the Texans have the 25th pick in the draft, and only one of the six CBSSports.com mock drafts has the team taking a quarterback (Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes). The other five target offensive linemen (Wisconsin’s Ryan Ramczyk, Utah’s Garrett Bolles, Alabama’s Cam Robinson) and linebackers (UCLA’s Takkarist McKinley, Florida’s Jarrad Davis).