The Houston Texans just took a shot at fixing their quarterback situation by agreeing to a four-year, $72 million deal with Brock Osweiler.
Osweiler was one of the hottest quarterback properties on the free-agent market, which should tell you all you need to know about this year's market. This is a quarterback who was benched for a Peyton Manning who was a shell of his former self.
The Broncos saw the interception-prone, 2015 version of Manning as a better option than Osweiler, which is far from a ringing endorsement, nor is the fact that they bowed out of the race for his signature once the price got too high.
In Houston, though, Osweiler enters an offense that relies heavily on the run game, and now has a proven running back with the signing of Lamar Miller from Miami. Arian Foster was a good runner when healthy, but Miller has been one of the league's more underrated players over the past couple of seasons and brings a real dynamism to the run game.
The offensive line, once one of the best in the league, has been eroded and is far from elite, though Osweiler will at least have the blindside protection of Duane Brown to lean on. Brown allowed 27 total pressures last season and remains one of the league's better pass-blocking tackles.
He also has DeAndre Hopkins, who emerged last season into one of the league's best receivers. The downside is that there is no secondary threat. Sophomore Jaelen Strong was looking like the most likely to become one until he was arrested for marijuana possession.
Obviously, Houston can't match the defense the Broncos had in 2015, despite J.J. Watt. The defense has been improving in recent years, but it isn't an all-time great unit or one that can carry an ailing offense the way Denver's could.
Still, for all of Osweiler's flaws and limitations, he has looked better in limited time than the carousel of quarterbacks whom the Texans were forced to revolve through in 2015.
Osweiler has good size, a solid arm, and when kept clean, actually had a passer rating of 95.9 last season and a completion percentage of 66.5 percent. With Miller coming on board and Hopkins already in place as a receiving weapon, the Texans now have the makings of a pretty solid offense, even if Osweiler is the beneficiary of a seller's market.