Cowboys Draft: The Case Against QB

Drafting a QB is priority #1 on many Cowboys’ fans list but former Broncos QB, Brock Osweiler, illustrates why drafting one isn’t always the best move.

It’s no exaggeration to say Cowboys suffered a nightmare 2015 season. The team that began with Super Bowl aspirations closed with a 4-12 record. It’s also fair to say, much of the blame of last season sits at the quarterback position.

Because of injury, Tony Romo was only able to play two complete games last season. Backups like Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel, and Kellen Moore were asked to lead the team in Romo’s absence but as the 4-12 record indicates, they did so unsuccessfully.

The QB position failed to move the ball, convert 3^rd downs, and generally score points. The depth, composed largely of retreads, failed to offer much hope for progress, making an offseason upgrade high priority. Many are now calling for the Cowboys to use the #4 pick on the position. But Brock Osweiler may have just made the case against adding a QB high in the draft…

Brock Osweiler was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the 2^nd round (57^th overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. The 6’7” signal caller from Arizona State was considered a developmental player with NFL tools. In other words, he would take time but he could eventually become a franchise QB.

The Broncos played it by the book. They slowly groomed Brock allowing him to develop under multiple offensive schemes, coaches, and starters. They didn’t prematurely expose him but gave him the time and coaching to develop.

Eventually he was called upon to hold down the fort while Peyton Manning recovered from injury. He was able to do so more than adequately but he was later replaced by a very pedestrian Manning (arguably the worst non-Cowboys starting QB in the NFL last season).

Now, Peyton has accepted reality and is going to retire. He’s handing the keys of the defending Super Bowl Champ team to young Brock Osweiler, making for a natural transition and the perfect grooming project for all other teams to follow.

But wait.

Brock Osweiler has left in free agency. He took his small sample size of success and cashed it in for a shiny new 4-year/$72M contract with the Houston Texans. The Broncos played everything right and still got left holding the bag.

The Cowboys have long abided by the thinking that drafting and grooming a QB is simply doing the work and development for another team. The Cowboys brass doesn’t want to invest the time, money, and energy on a guy would just theoretically leave and play well for someone else.

And that is what Brock Osweiler appears to be doing.

We don’t know if Brock is going to be good or not. There’s just too little evidence to prove it either way. Denver can’t be blamed for letting him get away. That’s a ridiculous amount of money he just received from an extremely desperate Texans team.