The Brock Osweiler era is over in Cleveland.
Osweiler has been released today, Zac Jackson of The Athletic reports, bringing an end to a five-month stretch that saw him start in the preseason just long enough for Cleveland to confirm that DeShone Kizer is their quarterback of the future.
The Browns’ decision to trade for Osweiler was never about having Osweiler play for him and always about acquiring a second-round draft pick from the Texans in exchange for agreeing to take Osweiler’s salary. The terrible contract the Texans gave Osweiler a year ago is now the Browns’ responsibility, meaning Cleveland still has to pay Osweiler $16 million this year.
But the Browns are willing to do that because they wanted the draft pick and they had the cap space. For the Browns, the trade was a success no matter what Osweiler did.
Now Osweiler will become a free agent, able to shop himself to teams looking for a veteran backup. He’ll probably catch on somewhere -- for a lot less than $16 million.
