Within an hour of the Cleveland Browns trading for Brock Osweiler, it’s being reported that the team will now either cut or trade the former Texans QB.
The #Browns are planning on cutting Brock Osweiler, source said. Of course, if someone will trade for him…
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2017
The Texans sent Osweiler to Cleveland with a 2018 second-round and 2017 sixth-round draft pick. In return, the Browns sent a 2017 fourth-round pick to Houston.
Via Pro Football Talk –
If they’d trade him, it would surely be for much less than the $16 million in guaranteed salary Osweiler will earn this year. The new team would take Osweiler’s contract at a reduced rate, and the Browns would pay the difference.
The same thing will happen if the Browns cut him, however. Given the presence of offset language in the contract, the Browns would pay the difference between whatever Osweiler gets on the open market and $16 million.
It’s an unprecedented situation for the NFL, with the Browns acquiring a player who will never play for the team.
And so the Browns can now add a new jersey to the one with all the starting quarterbacks dating back to 1999. Starting in 2017, we can start listing the names on the back of a jersey of quarterbacks who will never wear the jersey.
