Brock Osweiler runs through drills during Broncos mini camp in April. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
Perhaps the most lasting image of Brock Osweiler last season was of him in the third quarter of a blowout win at Oakland. He had thought he would finally get time on the field. FINALLY. But as he grabbed his helmet, Peyton Manning trotted back out to assume his usual position.
It’s been the story for much Osweiler’s tenure in Denver. He’s had a chance to learn from a hall of fame quarterback but has seen little game time because he backs up a hall of fame quarterback.
As he enters the final season his contract, and as Manning’s future remains up in the air (his deal doesn’t expire until after 2016), Osweiler may still not get a chance to prove his value during the season.
But general manager John Elway expects him to get his reps during training camp, which opens Friday, and in the preseason
“We’re going to evaluate him through training camp and evaluate him through preseason,” Elway said Thursday. “He got a lot of reps this offseason and we saw what he could do in practice, so we’ll do the best we can to try to evaluate him. We’ll cross that road when we get there.
“I do feel good about Brock. I feel good about his progress and we’re fortunate in the fact that Peyton’s been able to play this long. To that respect, it’s been a positive. Obviously to Brock, it’s not been a positive because Brock hasn’t got the playing time, but Brock’s done a tremendous job handling the situation and continued to put his nose to the grindstone. He’s continued to work and that’s all he’s done, and I’m sure he’ll continue to do that. We will get something worked out with that later.”
