Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler wanted to get out of John Elway and Peyton Manning's shadow

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair spoke today at NFL's Owner meetings and shed light as to why quarterback Brock Osweiler chose the Texans over the Denver Broncos during free agency.

He said the shadows of General Manager John Elway and quarterback Peyton Manning were too big for Osweiler and he wanted a fresh start elsewhere.

"I guess the thing that really helped us is that he does like our offense, and Coach Bill O'Brien gives the quarterback a little more leeway at the line of scrimmage and all quarterbacks like that," McNair said. "I think that helped. And then of course, he had played behind Peyton Manning and with John Elway there. Their shadows were quite large. He was still going to be under that and compared to them. He has a chance to be a real hero in Houston. And we’ve got a good ball club so I think all those things entered into it."

McNair added that Osweiler's agent told him that these factors were important to him.

There were many reports/rumors leaking out after Osweiler signed with the Texans stating exactly what McNair said today. Osweiler didn't want to be in Denver.

He reportedly wasn't returning phone calls to teammates and coaches, Osweiler was very distant during negotiations, and it was clear to Broncos General Manager John Elway a week before free agency began that Osweiler just did not want to be back with the team.

Broncos source: "This is not a surprise. It was clear to John (Elway) last week that (Osweiler) didn’t want to be here."

— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) March 9, 2016

Hours after Osweiler signed John Elway released a statement on the Broncos website stating that he will continue building a team with players who want to be here.

"We’ve stayed true to our philosophy of building a team with players who want to be Denver Broncos and want to be here. That’s been a successful approach for us.

While we did offer a very competitive and fair long-term contract to Brock, we ultimately had to remain disciplined while continuing to assemble a roster that can compete for championships.

We’ve now turned our attention to other options at quarterback and are confident that we’ll find the right player and person for our team," Elway said. "Our organization thanks Brock for his contributions and wishes him all the best."

If it wasn't already clear, it's very clear now that Brock Osweiler did not want to be a Denver Broncos player going forward.