Can Brock Osweiler be more than the guy who replaced Peyton Manning?

Brock Osweiler, who replaced a benched Peyton Manning last week shortly after he passed Brett Favre to become the NFL's all-time passing yards leader, is set to start the first game of his career as Manning deals with what the team is calling a left foot injury. If you pay heed to some of the rumors out there, Osweiler will have his shot at permanently replacing the aging legend.

Manning has completed just 59 percent of his passes this season and has tossed a league-high 17 interceptions, and despite his Hall of Fame resume, the Broncos are surely at least considering a tactful way to move forward without him if Osweiler thrives. It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out, to say the least.

2000: Tony Banks replaced by Trent Dilfer

Eight weeks into the 2000 season, the Ravens' offense was floundering, and starter Tony Banks had gone a month without throwing a touchdown. Baltimore turned to former Buccaneers' signal caller Trent Dilfer, and after losing his first game as a starter, the Ravens would go on to rattle off 11 straight wins, including Super Bowl XXXV over the Giants. Dilfer completed just 59 percent of his passes during the regular season that year and his playoff numbers weren't much better, but with a legendary defense behind him, he did enough to help the Ravens win (he didn't do anything to make them lose, in other words). He was not re-signed after that Super Bowl win, and would end up with the Seahawks.

2001: Drew Bledsoe replaced by Tom Brady

Only two games into his record 10-year, $103 million contract, Drew Bledsoe was hit by Jets' linebacker Mo Lewis and suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest. Tom Brady, a second-year, former sixth-round pick out of Michigan, came in in relief, completing 5 of 10 passes for 46 yards in a losing effort. Brady would go on to start the next 14 games for New England, though, leading the Patriots to an 11-5 record, including wins in the final six games of the regular season, securing a playoff berth. The Patriots would then beat the Raiders and Steelers before heading to Super Bowl XXXVI, where Brady would manage the game and help the Patriots defeat the Rams, 20-17. Despite completing just 59 percent of his passes for 143 yards in that Super Bowl, a legend was born.

Brady held on to his starting job, and Bledsoe was traded to the Bills to start the 2002 season. The rest, as they say, is history. Brady's been to six Super Bowls, is a three-time Super Bowl MVP and four-time Champion (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX). He's probably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game of football.

2004: Tommy Maddox replaced by Ben Roethlisberger

2011: Kyle Orton replaced by Tim Tebow

After a 1-4 start, Broncos head coach John Fox made the switch from starter Kyle Orton to second-year pro Tim Tebow. Whether because of, or in spite of Tebow's play, the Broncos would win seven of their next eight games before losing three in a row to end the year. Nonetheless, they secured a playoff spot, and their Wild Card matchup with the Steelers would go to overtime. On the first play of the overtime period, Tebow hit Demaryius Thomas on a slant route and Thomas took it to the house for the game-winning touchdown. The Broncos would lose to the Patriots in the divisional round.

Despite that unlikely run into the playoffs, Tebow completed just 46 percent of his passes on the season (and just 40 percent in the playoffs), and when the Broncos signed Peyton Manning in the offseason, he was traded to the Jets.

2012: Alex Smith replaced by Colin Kaepernick

Niners head coach Jim Harbaugh turned to Colin Kaepernick after Alex Smith was concussed in a Week 10 tie to St. Louis, but even with Smith's 19-5-1 record as a starter the previous two seasons, Harbaugh stuck with the second-year pro for the rest of the season. "[Harbaugh] was tired of driving the Corolla," a team executive told Yahoo! at the time. "He wanted to take a spin in the Ferrari."

Well, that decision would end up being an impactful one for the Niners. They'd win five of seven to end the year and fight their way through the playoffs to a Super Bowl berth, including a Wild Card win over the Packers in which Kaepernick would rush for a playoff record 181 yards. Against the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII, they'd come five yards short of a Championship, when Kaepernick would miss Michael Crabtree on a fade route to the back corner of the end zone.

On the surface, though, the move to Kaepernick looked like a solid one. He had secured the job and presented himself as one of the league's rising superstars. Smith would be dealt to the Chiefs shortly thereafter. The Niners would make it back to the NFC Championship in 2013 with a solid year from Kaepernick, but once again, a corner fade route to Crabtree would end their season as it was picked off by Richard Sherman. Despite the fact that he received a contract extension over the subsequent offseason, that play may have signaled the beginning of the end for Kaepernick in San Francisco.

It's unclear if this is really the end of the road for Peyton Manning in Denver, but Brock Osweiler will do all he can to give Gary Kubiak no reason to go back to the struggling legend.