Osweiler taking on former team

Dolphins QB says he doesn’t want it to be personal against Texans.

HOUSTON — Brock Osweiler has become a cautionary reminder of what happens when an NFL franchise gets desperate in its pursuit of a franchise quarterback.

Back in 2015, Osweiler was the understudy to Peyton Manning and helped the Denver Broncos get to the Super Bowl they won. As a reward for steadying Denver’s season while Manning rehabbed a foot injury, Osweiler became the hottest free agent of 2016.

The Houston Texans lured Osweiler away from the Broncos with a lucrative four-year, $72 million contract. He led that Texans team to the postseason with a 8-6 record in his 14 starts, and delivered a playoff win. Then his NFL career started unraveling because the Texans got buyer’s remorse.

“It was short,” Osweiler said about his Houston tenure. “It was one season. Other than that, I’m very proud of a lot of things that we accomplished. At the end of the day, in that one season, we won our division, we won a playoff game and that’s what I remember.

“There’s a lot of other teams in the National Football League that didn’t do that.”

The Texans (4-3), who Osweiler and the Dolphins (4-3) face in Thursday night’s nationally televised game, remember inaccurate passes and unimpressive play from Osweiler, who struggled to execute coach Bill O’Brien’s offense.

According to Houston’s players, the Texans got to the playoffs with little help from Osweiler.

Osweiler’s Texans teammates and coaches lost confidence in him because of his accuracy issues according to a player on that team, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Osweiler produced a lackluster 72.2 passer rating that season, which motivated the Texans to draft quarterback Deshaun Watson in the first round of the 2017 draft. But before they did, Houston pulled off an unprecedented NBA style trade to unload Osweiler. The Texans sent him and his contract to the Cleveland Browns, sweetening the deal with a 2017 second-round pick to rid themselves of the quarterback.

At the end of training camp last

season the Browns released Osweiler, eating the $16 million that remained in the guaranteed portion of his contract, and Osweiler re-signed with the Broncos. He struggled there too, losing all four games he started and eventually signed with the Dolphins this past offseason to reunite with coach Adam Gase, who he played his first three seasons for in Denver.

Osweiler has spent the past year and a half overhauling his mechanics and improving his footwork with the hopes that it improves his accuracy, which has contributed to him completing 59.8 percent of his passes and averaging 6.4 yards per attempt throughout his career.

This season with the Dolphins, Osweiler completing 67.5 percent of his passes and averaging 8.2 yards per attempt.

“I think he’s playing great. I think he’s got great command of their offense,” O’Brien said this week, showering Osweiler with praise for the 107.0 quarterback rating he’s produced in his two starts since Ryan Tannehill injured his throwing shoulder.

“Really, really bright guy. Really understands Adam’s system.”

Gase’s advice to Osweiler this week is to avoid making Thursday night’s game personal, and to play within himself, and to utilize the system.

Osweiler said he has no desire to make the game personal.

“At the end of the day, business decisions are made in this business and that’s what took place,” said Osweiler, who has a 15-14 record as an NFL starter, which includes the two playoff games he’s started. “There’s no hard feelings. There’s no illwill.”

Win or loss, don’t shed tears for Osweiler because he’s earned more than $41 million in his seven-year NFL career, which is more than all but five of his current teammates.

He’s already won, and continues to win because he has another chance to prove he’s an NFL starter.

Osweiler has consistently talked about making the most of each day, and each opportunity.

That’s his mindset no matter the challenge presented, and that includes facing the Texans on a short week with an injury-decimated receiver unit that is forced to play without Albert Wilson, whose hip injury got him placed on injured reserve, and Kenny Stills, whose groin sprain will force him to miss his first game since 2014.

“I would just say life is unfair,” Osweiler said when asked about how he’s perceived in NFL circles.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about focusing on things you can control.”