Brock Osweiler was the centerpiece of the Houston Texans’ free agency acquisitions, and that should make you question the thought process of the Houston Texans front office. John Elway is busy doing victory laps and @-ing random Twitter denizens who dared question his general manager skills after trying to give Osweiler $16 million a year, so if for some reason you’ve ended up with him on your roster, don’t be disheartened. Still, if you have him in a deeper league, this isn’t the week to be starting Osweiler.
Osweiler’s season-long stats are misleading because thus far he’s played 25% of his games this season against Bill Belichick, who is the best in NFL history at turning your own weaknesses inwards and forcing you to destroy yourself as he stands, unflinching and unsmiling on the sidelines, already plotting the destruction of the next team the NFL had the gall to place in his way. Osweiler’s raw productivity stats give him the potential to be a streaming fantasy football options, but his limitations just take too much away from him to be a useful player, except as a back-end QB1 streaming option in 16-team leagues.
Excepting the game against certified Soul Eater Bill Belichick, Osweiler is averaging a passable 1.67 touchdowns and 251 yards per game. Not great but in the streamable territory, except when you consider that he has a 5:5 TD:INT ratio this year. He hasn’t been great, and those that have been streaming him have been disappointed. His opponent this week also leaves little to be desired in terms of matchup.
The Minnesota Vikings might boast the most fearful passing defense in the NFC, and the proof is in the proverbial pudding. The Vikings are yet to allow 300 yards to a quarterback this season, despite playing Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers, whose legs and arm make them a threat for 350 or more yards every week, and despite facing Eli Manning, who is a threat to rain destruction down from above on any given week. They’ve held every quarterback in check thus far this season. Passing scores have also been a problem for the Vikings’ opponents. After allowing two garbage time scores against Marcus Mariota week one, the Minnesota pass defense has managed to intercept five passes while yielding just one passing touchdown. Both Cam and Rodgers scored on the ground against the Vikings, but that isn’t something to worry about with Osweiler. They’re a stifling defense in every sense of the term.
If you are in a league deep enough that you need to roster Osweiler, this is not the week to start him. This is also not the week to look towards streaming Osweiler. He is a quarterback with serious deficiencies taking on a team that will expertly exploit said deficiencies.