After three years as the backup behind Peyton Manning, the Broncos finally inserted Brock Osweiler into the starting lineup. The early results have been promising. He's only made two starts with the Denver Broncos, but a new contract in the offseason is already looming.
Brock Osweiler and Kirk Cousins are about to cash in
Brock Osweiler and Kirk Cousins will get huge contracts in the offseason because their teams have no choice but to pay them.
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
The 25-year-old quarterback hasn't lit the world on fire with his play, but he doesn't have to on a team that features one of the NFL's best defenses. His 61.3 completion percentage with four touchdowns and two interceptions was efficient enough to keep the Broncos in the win column. Osweiler passed his first true test as a starter by leading Denver to an overtime victory against the New England Patriots.
But even if Osweiler plays at the same level for the rest of the season, he will have only seven regular season starts under his belt when it’s time for a new contract in the offseason. The Broncos have no choice but to pay him, and that likely means he’ll get a big contract even with so little experience under his belt.
The Broncos aren't the only ones with the problem of a relatively unproven quarterback forcing their hand. Kirk Cousins has played well enough in his time as the starter for Washington to deserve another contract, but his 7-13 record makes a huge contract a risky venture. Like Denver, Washington doesn't have much choice if they want to keep him with the team.
Especially when there are so few good quarterbacks slated to hit free agency in 2016.
After Cousins, Osweiler and Sam Bradford, the other top guys are 33-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick and backups like Chad Henne, Chase Daniel, Drew Stanton and Matt Schaub. Of course, it's possible there could be more additions to the open market like Robert Griffin III, Colin Kaepernick or maybe even Matthew Stafford.
Even then, if either Cousins or Osweiler were to hit free agency, teams would be willing to open up their pocketbooks and that gives them both plenty of leverage.
The standard rate for a franchise quarterback is about $20 million per year. Nine passers have contracts that average that much per year and five of them were signed in 2015. Another nine make more than $16 million per year. That’s more than half the NFL and another chunk of players are set to receive big extensions soon.
Some of the only starting quarterbacks who make less than $12 million per year are young quarterbacks like Andrew Luck, Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, and that's because they haven't yet signed a second contract.
All that means Cousins and Osweiler are about to get paid big money in the offseason whether they’ve done enough to prove they’re worth it or not.
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SB Nation presents: Brock Osweiler is a superhero, a very tall superhero
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