It sends the message that they don't want their QB to suffer/aggravate an injury in the final meaningless game of the season and end up on the hook for a large sum of money for an injured player- it doesn't mean they aren't going to pick up the option, just like if he played it wouldn't mean that they are picking it up. If the game meant anything, he'd be playing and no one would be talking about how "lame" this is.
Not sure how people can think this is such a "team friendly" contract. Read
this link. Sure, the average annual salary isn't outrageous and they have outs (talk was that it will cost them another $10 mil to get out of it), but it's a very front-loaded (i.e., player friendly) contract. The final few years are team friendly, but they almost certainly won't get to realize them- if they keep him and he plays well, he's going to demand a raise for those years.
Just because Osweiler's contract isn't team friendly doesn't mean Taylor's is. It's a poor comparison anyway since Tyrod was already under contract at the time while Brock was a FA.