Houston Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler is not living up to the expectations the team had for him when it signed him to a four-year, $72 million contract this past offseason.
This is a well-known fact.
The inexperienced signal-caller has thus far played at the level you’d expect from a career backup. He’s completed just 58.2 percent of his passes, averaged just 5.7 yards per attempts and has matched his eight touchdowns with eight interceptions.
Statistically speaking, he’s among the worst quarterbacks in the league.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports NFL executives and coaches believe a lack of confidence is the big issue for Osweiler.
“They pointed to one particular throw during Monday night’s loss to his former team, the Denver Broncos, when Osweiler had one of his tight ends wide open and missed him by about 3 yards,” Schefter writes. “One source said he believed Osweiler’s inaccuracy is a direct result of his lack of assurance in his abilities.”
Many NFL analysts believe Osweiler doesn’t have elite skills to begin with. He doesn’t possess a Joe Flacco-type arm and isn’t consistently accurate, even under the best of circumstances. He isn’t particularly imposing in any single area as it pertains to quarterbacking in the NFL.
With that in mind, it’s absolutely imperative that he does all the little things right to succeed. That hasn’t happened this year in Houston.
We’ve been harping on the fact that the Texans’ big gamble on Osweiler looks like a bust since Week 3 (more on that here). Nothing he’s done since then has changed our opinion, and things could get worse if this confidence issue remains at the forefront.