Osweiler explains departure from Denver
Brock Osweiler makes his hotly anticipated return to Denver on "Monday Night Football."
As quarterback of the Houston Texans, Osweiler will surely be the subject of plenty of boos after he chose to leave the defending champions and signed for more money in Houston.
"It is what it is, man. Everybody likes Brock, but guys do what they think is best; they go to whatever situation they think is best. Those are personal decisions," Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said in a piece by ESPN's Jeff Legwold. "Maybe he didn't like what it was going to be here and the expectations and all that.
"We didn't take leaving personally. That's the league."
Harris, however, did take issue with Osweiler's introductory press conference in Houston, in which the signal-caller said he signed with the Texans because they provide "the best opportunity to be successful."
"Yeah, we probably did take that personally."
While the Broncos may take those words to heart, Osweiler continues to insist that his free-agent destination wasn't made with any intended malice.
"There were a number of things that went into this decision. It wasn't a decision that was made overnight; it was a decision that took up weeks post-Super Bowl, as we were heading into free agency. I don't know if that was the correct thing for me to say because, bottom line, there's so many things that went into it," Osweiler told Legwold.
He also tried to explain his "best opportunity to be successful" line, insisting that he was speaking purely about playing styles.
"I feel like I had great success playing in (Broncos coach Gary Kubiak's) system, and I really enjoyed playing in that system. But what (Texans coach Bill) O'Brien is doing down here in Houston, at the time when I was doing my research on the Texans, it seemed like a phenomenal opportunity as a quarterback to play in a system like this."
Many drew the conclusion that Osweiler made his decision that he would leave Denver after he was benched in the regular-season finale after leading the team to a 4-2 record in the previous six games. Osweiler didn't play a single down in the playoffs and watched as Peyton Manning led the team to a Super Bowl title.
"It didn't weigh in whatsoever," Osweiler said. "At the end of the day, I really do have nothing but respect for Coach Kubiak and how he runs that team.
"Any competitor would be frustrated in that moment ... but it certainly made sense what Coach Kubiak did for the playoff run. I got replaced by Peyton Manning. ... I think we all know who is going to play in the game."