The NFL’s legal tampering period begins on Monday, March 7 at noon ET, and one report indicates the Houston Texans won’t wait long to contact Brock Osweiler’s agent to begin pursuing the free agent quarterback.
Mike Klis of 9News in Denver dropped this nugget of knowledge on Sunday night: “Houston is expected to contact Jimmy Sexton, Osweiler’s agent, during the tampering period…”
This isn’t a surprising revelation. Houston is desperate to land a competent passer. Given the team’s outstanding defense, its decent offensive line and the fact that it currently features one of the league’s most dynamic receivers in DeAndre Hopkins, all the Texans need is a quarterback to move from pretender to contender in the weak AFC South.
Osweiler is the best quarterback left on the market after Sam Bradford and Kirk Cousins both signed short-term deals with their respective teams (franchise tag for Cousins and two-year deal for Bradford).
And, while his sample size isn’t fantastic, Osweiler did show some really good things during his run as the starter for the Denver Broncos while Peyton Manning recovered from injuries that knocked him out of the lineup. He went 5-2 in seven starts, passing for 1,967 yards with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Compared to Brian Hoyer, who was absolutely mediocre the past two years in Cleveland and Houston and utterly crumbled in the postseason, Osweiler could be considered a godsend to an organization that has experienced just one playoff win in its 14-season history.
That said, the Texans will have to fight with the Broncos and other teams to land Osweiler, whose value is extremely inflated right now in the absence of better options this offseason. The upcoming 2016 NFL Draft is also devoid of much talent at this critical position, meaning any viable starters on the open market will be highly coveted.