HOUSTON — The Houston Texans have filled their biggest need, starting free agency with a splash by snagging Brock Osweiler from the Denver Broncos.
A person familiar with the negotiations said the free agent quarterback agreed to a four-year contract with the team on Wednesday.
The Broncos hoped to keep Osweiler in the wake of Peyton Manning’s retirement on Monday.
Instead, he’s heading to Houston, where the Texans were looking to upgrade the position after Brian Hoyer’s struggles last season, particularly his turnover-filled performance in their wild-card playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Osweiler appeared in eight games with seven starts last season for the Super Bowl champion Broncos. He started the last seven games of the regular season, but was benched in favor of Manning for the postseason.
The 6-foot-7, 240-pound player spent the first four years of his career with the Broncos after being drafted in the second round out of Arizona State in 2012.
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He threw for 1,967 yards and 10 touchdowns with six interceptions last season. Osweiler only played sparingly in his first three seasons in Denver and never threw for 100 yards in a season until last year.
Hoyer remains on Houston’s roster after signing a two-year contract before last season, but his five-turnover fiasco in the loss to the Chiefs made it clear that Houston needed a change at the position.
Adding Osweiler comes after a season where Houston was forced to use four different quarterbacks. Struggles by Hoyer got him benched in the season opener and the Texans started Ryan Mallett for four games.
Mallett won just one of those games, and soon Hoyer was starting again as Mallett was released after missing a team flight. The Texans started both T.J. Yates and Brandon Weeden late in the season when Hoyer missed three games because he sustained two concussions in less than a month.
Osweiler’s decision leaves the Broncos with Trevor Siemian as the only quarterback on their roster. The seventh-round pick took just one snap as a rookie last season.
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