Earlier this week, quarterback Brock Osweiler agreed to leave the Broncos for a four-year, $72MM contract with the Texans, but agent Jimmy Sexton never gave Denver a chance to match the offer, reports John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.
Sexton told Osweiler not to return any calls from any Broncos employees until the agent had reached a deal with either Denver or Houston. Osweiler wanted out of the Mile High City after the Broncos went back to Peyton Manning for their playoff run, a source close to Osweiler’s family told Mike Klis of 9News (Twitter link). If true, that obviously helped the Texans win the battle for his services.
“They wanted him in Denver, but (general manager) Rick (Smith) hung in there and got the deal consummated,” Texans 
owner Bob McNair said. “I couldn’t be more excited.”
Smith and head coach Bill O’Brien undoubtedly join McNair in his excitement. After watching tape of pending free agent QBs, both came to an agreement that Osweiler was atop their wish list.
“We came out of the film room agreeing that Brock Osweiler was the quarterback to lead us where we want to go,” Smith said.
However, the Texans didn’t know whether they’d have a chance to land Osweiler, as McNair stated.
“He could have signed (with Denver) and not been available. We really didn’t know, but we were still looking at him and hoping he would be available,” said McNair.
More on the Broncos and a couple other NFL teams:
- With Manning and Osweiler gone, the Broncos are “exercising patience” in their search for a signal-caller, tweets The Denver Post’s Troy Renck, who lists Colin Kaepernick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, and draft prospects as their targets. They aren’t yet considering Robert Griffin III, per Renck.
- Offensive tackle Andre Smith – who visited the Vikings on Sunday – doesn’t have any more meetings currently lined up, but his agent told him this morning there are other teams that could be interested in him (Twitter link via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Smith spent 2009-15 with the Bengals after they selected him sixth overall and made 73 regular-season starts in 82 appearances. If Smith signs with the Vikings, he’d be the third starting-caliber O-lineman to do so this offseason, joining guards Alex Boone and Mike Harris.
- Linebacker Terence Garvin will visit the Titans on Monday, according to Rand Getlin of NFL.com (Twitter link). Garvin has been with the Steelers since they signed him as an undrafted free agent from West Virginia in 2012. The 25-year-old has appeared in 43 regular-season games (one start) and amassed 21 special teams tackles. Garvin met with Washington earlier this week.
Obviously optimistic thinking, but considering where the Broncos reside in quarterback purgatory right now, bypassing RG3 is interesting. He will cost less than Kaepernick and had his quality season in a Mike Shanahan system, albeit a slightly modified version. That should at least warrant further consideration. Hoyer actually could be an interesting fit. The Broncos have double-digit draft picks this year and Hoyer’s on the books for less than $5MM this season. Throwing 19 TDs and seven INTs last season, he was arguably better than both Manning and Osweiler before the playoff disaster.
In not suprised denver racist front office wants everyone but the black quarterback
Ok race baiting idiot. How do you explain their strong push to obtain kapernick?
That would scare me if I’m a Houston fan that their front office and coach were salivating over Osweiler, especially after the same owner and GM with a different coach that just won the Super Bowl was all in on another mediocre backup 10 years ago, Matt Schaub, who probably cost them from ever winning anything more than any key position player they had during that window.