Broncos Lose, How Soon Will Brock Osweiler Replace Peyton Manning?

With the Denver Broncos’ shocking — yes, I said it — shocking loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, it’s fair to wonder what the future of Peyton Manning is in the NFL. Manning is currently scheduled to make almost $20 million in each of the next two seasons with the Broncos (guaranteed money) and the team obviously has some big decisions to make of whether or not to keep head coach John Fox, what coordinators will leave, and who will or won’t be there among their 10 free agents.

The Broncos know they are probably going to lose at least one of Julius Thomas, Demaryius Thomas, or Terrance Knighton, who are the biggest three names on their free agent list after re-signing Chris Harris Jr. Obviously, the first two players on that list have been huge benefactors of the great Manning, who threw more touchdowns than anyone would care to even count in his three years with the Broncos so far.

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Manning against the Colts looked a little depressing. He looked dejected, hurt, distraught, defeated, incapable, and just overall not himself. The Broncos knew that the window with Manning wasn’t a large one. He is 38 years old and Father Time catches up with everyone. That being said, the team has had Brock Osweiler developing for the last three years, and while the results on Osweiler have been mixed to this point, we could be drawing near to his time out there as the starter for the Broncos.

If even for a short period, I have to think that every Denver Broncos fan who was watching that football game thought at some point or another that it looked like Peyton Manning might be done playing the game of football. The Manning that threw 55 touchdown passes wasn’t the same after suffering a thigh injury against the Chargers earlier this season, but we really saw a sharp decline after the Broncos were beaten in New England by the Patriots, then trailed the Raiders before coming back and making that one look easy. They came out flat again the next week and lost on the road to the St. Louis Rams, which was what I believe to be the turning point of Manning’s career, possibly for the worse.

In all likelihood, it seems like Manning will play one more year despite how he or anyone else may be feeling at this point. If he was going to go out, getting beat on his home field against the team that drafted him, it would be almost too depressing to fathom. I don’t know if that’s the way Manning wants to go out, and certainly the Broncos would welcome him back. However, if this is all the more effective he can be anymore, it’s not unfair to wonder if the Osweiler era will start sooner rather than later in Denver, and if John Elway will have to make that call.

Osweiler has shown the Broncos quite a bit in terms of arm strength, mobility, and a willingness to sit and learn, getting drafted in a deep class of QBs knowing full well that it would be a long while before he ever played. I’ve been impressed with some things I’ve seen from Osweiler, and others have left me scratching my head. Such is life with a young quarterback.

If this is the end for Manning, it would be really sad for him. But that’s the way it felt on Sunday evening.

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