Brock Osweiler passes on Broncos’ White House trip for good reason
Much was made about the awkwardness that Brock Osweiler faced when he was benched last season in favor of Peyton Manning, who helped guide the Denver Broncos to a win in Super Bowl 50.
Osweiler handled himself well publicly, but behind closed doors he was said to have not liked the way the team handled replacing him with Manning (whom Osweiler replaced) down the stretch. It certainly played into his decision to sign a four-year, $72 million deal with the Houston Texans this offseason and not return to Denver, even though Manning was retiring.
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So when news broke that Osweiler planned to skip the Broncos’ requisite White House trip to honor the Super Bowl champs (President Obama’s final time doing this routine), some made the assumption that Osweiler wanted to avoid further awkwardness. Except that wasn’t the case — he merely had other plans.
Pretty good ones, too. Osweiler wasn’t about the miss the start of OTAs with his new Texans team. He released a statement thanking his former team.
“The Broncos graciously extended an invitation for me to join them at The White House on Monday, but due to a scheduled OTA in Houston, I feel it is important to be at practice with my new teammates. It’s a new offensive system for me and every practice and rep is extremely important. I am very appreciative of the Broncos wanting to include me on this special day.”
This was handled well by Osweiler, who is now seeking to start over with the Texans more so than he is trying to put his Broncos days behind him.
We’ve seen higher-profile talents — such as Tom Brady last year, Marshawn Lynch the year prior — skip out on the White House trip and with far less clear excuses. Really, no one should be mad at anyone for skipping this sort of thing, which is not mandatory, but throwing shade at Osweiler for his reasoning would be extra dumb.
Osweiler surely hopes to go one day. As a member of the Texans, when there is no practice session scheduled.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
