Report: Texans reach deal with Brock Osweiler, making AFC South more interesting

The three teams in the AFC South besides the Colts have been making several moves in the past few days, but today comes a report of what could potentially be the biggest one: according to NFL Media's Rand Getlin (and confirmed by ESPN's Adam Schefter), Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler is heading to the Houston Texans.

According to Schefter, it's a four-year deal worth $17 million for Osweiler.  ESPN's Ed Werder adds that the Texans gave Osweiler $37 million guaranteed.  That's HUGE money for a guy with seven career starts, but it shouldn't really come as a surprise - teams are desperate for quarterbacks, and the Texans went after the top one on the market.  It does mean, however, that Osweiler is now the highest-paid quarterback in the AFC South (at least for now) despite Andrew Luck, Marcus Mariota, and Blake Bortles all being in the same division (you can make a good argument that all three of those guys are better currently than Osweiler is) and despite having the fewest career passing yards and touchdowns of the four starters.

Osweiler was the top quarterback on the market and the Broncos were unable to keep him around even though Peyton Manning retired and the team wanted Osweiler as their starter.  Instead, the Texans made a strong push for the quarterback and seem to have landed him, giving them a legitimate option at quarterback - something they haven't really had.  Let's be clear: we don't know whether Osweiler can be a franchise quarterback.  The Broncos seemed to think that he was, but if they truly did, it's strange why they let him walk.  He has started just seven career games and honestly wasn't anything special when playing for Denver last year, but he does have talent.  It's unclear whether Osweiler is the answer the Texans have been searching for, but this much is clear: he's a much better option than anyone they've had recently.

The Texans managed to win the AFC South in 2015 despite having Brian Hoyer at quarterback, and while that was in large part due to the injuries to Andrew Luck derailing the Colts' season, Houston does have a good team and, if they get a quarterback, could make some noise.  If Osweiler turns out to be that guy - or even pretty good - then the Texans could be dangerous and could be primed to give the Colts serious competition for the next several seasons.  Of course, that's a lot of predicting, as we're not even sure how Osweiler will do, but it without a doubt makes the AFC South a lot more interesting.