NFL notes: QB Brock Osweiler signs $72 million deal with Texans

Brock Osweiler signed his four-year, $72 million deal with the Houston Texans on Thursday, making the quarterback with all of seven NFL starts one of the league’s highest-paid players.

Osweiler agreed to leave the Denver Broncos when free agency began, leaving a pending starting job with the Super Bowl champions to become Houston’s quarterback.

The Texans were looking to upgrade the position after Brian Hoyer’s struggles last season, particularly his turnover-filled performance in their wild-card playoff loss to Kansas City.

Houston also added running back Lamar Miller, center Tony Bergstrom and guard Jeff Allen in free agency, and re-signed tackle Chris Clark, punter Shane Lechler and kicker Nick Novak.

Miller replaces franchise rushing leader Arian Foster, who was released after a series of injuries in recent years.

Osweiler appeared in eight games with seven starts last season for the Broncos. He threw for 1,967 yards and 10 touchdowns with six interceptions.

After sitting behind Peyton Manning for more than three years, he started the last seven games of the 2015 regular season, but was benched in favor of Manning for the postseason. The 6-foot-7, 240-pound Osweiler was drafted in the second round in 2012 out of Arizona State.

“It was very difficult,” he said of leaving Denver. “I’d be lying to you if I said anything else. I had a tremendous four seasons there in Denver and those are four years that I’ll always hold close to my heart. But bottom line coming to Houston was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.”

Brady gets two-year extenision

Tom Brady’s two-year contract extension with the Patriots will give him a $28 million signing bonus and adds $41 million to his deal should he play it out.

Although Brady will earn only $1 million in base salary next season and in 2017, the bonuses will increase his cap hit to $14 million in each of those seasons. His base salary for 2018 and 2019 would be $14 million, with cap hits of $22 million each, although Brady, 38, is likely to redo those deals, too, if he is still playing.

Brady, who says he wants to play well into his 40s, has reworked his contract several times during his career, in which New England has won four Super Bowls and he has two NFL MVP awards.

The main reason to reduce Brady’s salaries is to decrease how much he will cost New England against the salary cap. But Brady also could face a reinstatement of his four-game suspension in the deflated footballs saga from the 2014 AFC title game. If that happens, he would lose less than $250,000 in salary.

With the extension, Brady now ranks 14th among quarterbacks in guaranteed money. That puts him behind Super Bowl winners Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco. It also trails the likes of Matthew Stafford, Tony Romo and Jay Cutler, none of whom has ever sniffed a Super Bowl.

Around the league

Bill Wade, a former No. 1 overall draft pick who played 13 seasons in the NFL and helped the Chicago Bears win the 1963 championship, has died. He was 85 years old. He died of natural causes Wednesday night in Nashville, Tennessee. The Los Angeles Rams selected the former Vanderbilt quarterback with the top overall pick in the 1952 draft. After serving two years in the Navy, Wade threw for 124 touchdowns and 18,530 yards while playing for the Rams from 1954-60 and for the Chicago Bears from 1961-66. … When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers called, J.R. Sweezy did more than listen. The free agent guard signed a five-year, $32.5 million contract. “It just feels right,” the former Seattle Seahawks lineman, who addressed a need created by Logan Mankins’ retirement, said Thursday. … Now that C.J. Anderson is a Super Bowl-winning running back, the Dolphins want to give him the ball. The restricted free agent signed an $18 million, four-year offer sheet with Miami, a person familiar with the situation said. The person confirmed the offer to the AP on condition of anonymity because the Dolphins have not commented. Anderson rushed for 720 yards last year for the NFL champion Denver Broncos, who have five days to match the offer. They’re considered unlikely to do so. … Wide receiver Marvin Jones finalized his $40 million, five-year contract with Detroit, and the Lions introduced him on a conference call. Jones caught 88 passes for 816 yards and four touchdowns last season with the Bengals.