Perea: We haven’t heard the last from former Broncos QB Osweiler

A trade on the first day of free agency between Houston and the Cleveland Browns not only potentially put a kink in the Denver Broncos hopes of securing Tony Romo as its next quarterback but also ended a Brock Osweiler’s tumultuous tenure with the Texans.

Osweiler was shipped north just one year after agreeing to leave Denver for Houston to the tune of a four-year, $72 million deal with $37 million fully guaranteed.

The once future quarterback for the Broncos struggled in first full season as a starter, throwing 16 interceptions to just 15 touchdowns, putting 2,957 yards with just 170 completions.

Osweiler’s quarterback rating was 55.3, good enough for No. 22 in the league, behind Denver’s starter Trevor Siemian at 55.8.

But Dr. Rick Perea, a performance psychologist who has worked with the Broncos in the past, said there’s a lot of variables at play when an athlete struggles on the field, including scheme, coaching, and chemistry between the player and staff.

“We need to understand a lot of variables and a lot of levels. I’ll always be a believer in Brock Osweiler. He’s one of my guys that I just believe in, and I have from Day One. And that will not change based on the latest news,” Perea told 104.3 The Fan’s Sandy Clough on Friday.

“And I’ll say this: You have not heard the last from him. He will come around, and Brock will be everything we and he intends to be.”

Longtime Houston Chronicle NFL reporter John McClain told “The Drive” on Thursday that he believes Osweiler wasn’t ready for the pressures of such a contract.

“Everybody put pressure on him. Fans, media, everything. And when he struggled, the criticism was excruciating,” McClain said. “He threw bad passes. He made decisions that were head scratchers that he didn’t make in Denver. And the worse it got, the more he pressed.”

McClain said Owen Daniels, former Texans tight end and teammate of Osweiler in Denver, said Osweiler was not the same quarterback last season as he was when they played together with the Broncos.

“Brock didn’t play anywhere near as well here as he did in Denver, for whatever reason. I think the contract weighed heavily on him. I think the pressure caused him to do things he didn’t do up there,” McClain said.

McClain pointed to the difference between former Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak’s system and coaching philosophy and that of Texans head coach Bill O’Brien as potentially the reason for Osweiler’s decline.

Kubiak, McClain said, would “pat them on the back and kick them in the butt,” but likened O’Brien to a “drill sergeant.”

“But I’m sure that he came here, it was the wrong system, the wrong staff. I’m sure he thinks he made a mistake, and that’s why I said I bet he feels relieved that he’s out of it,” McClain said.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.