Brock's chance for redemption

Brock Osweiler has taken a lot of grief for being a “pretty good” quarterback in a league that only values great quarterbacks, but many of us who had the privilege of seeing him play in his high school years at Flathead still think he can achieve greatness in the NFL.

Fortunately, he’ll get that chance again with the Denver Broncos, where he started his career as backup to Peyton Manning. After a much-publicized detour to the Houston Texans, and then an even briefer stop in Cleveland, Brock is back in the Mile-High City.

Osweiler has gotten a lot of unearned criticism because he left the Broncos and signed a $37 million contract with the Texans, but that has proven to be a wise decision for Osweiler and his family. Although he helped get his team into the playoffs in Houston, he was traded the next year to Cleveland, who then released him in preseason this year. Nonetheless, Brock is guaranteed a $16 million salary from Cleveland for the year. Can’t really argue with that for shrewd negotiating.

Now Brock has returned to a backup slot starting with Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, but the way things go in the NFL, he’ll at least have a pretty good chance to return to the starting role again and prove he has what it takes to be a great quarterback.

We also think that through the past year-and-a-half Osweiler has been a good team player and handled himself with dignity when lots of other players would have cracked. His attitude says a lot about his Montana upbringing. When asked about his role as backup to Denver starter Trevor Siemian, Osweiler said, “I’m prepared and ready to support Trevor with whatever he needs. Shoot, I would come back here to be water boy.”

We hope Denver fans give him a second chance, just as Broncos General Manager John Elway did. We don’t think they’ll be disappointed.