DALLAS — When Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett speak to the media, it is mostly their way of communicating with Cowboys fans. Occasionally, it’s to send a message to a particular player. But in the last 48 hours, it has been something else.
When Garrett and Jones have discussed Tony Romo — surprisingly at length and in detail by the head coach — it’s their way of conveying messages to each other.
Reading between the lines, which is the only way to ever understand the Cowboys’ owner, Jones is telling his coach that Romo just might continue his career here in 2017. Garrett, all but saying farewell to his friend and longtime quarterback, is telling the owner it’s time to move on.
And the one inevitable conclusion everyone should have reached this weekend — Cowboys fans or otherwise — is that Romo in a Houston Texans uniform next season just might be a hell of a thing for a team that doesn’t play in the Cowboys’ conference and won’t play Dallas again until 2018.
The one area where Garrett and Jones exist on the same page is in their effusive praise of Romo, who turns 37 in April. Garrett pointed out that Romo was 15-5 over his 20 most recent starts, saying that there was “a compelling argument” to reinstate Romo when he recovered from injury at midseason. He said Romo misused the word “meritocracy,” that he had downplayed his own abilities.
On his radio show Tuesday, Jones suggested that the Cowboys don’t want to see Romo win a Super Bowl elsewhere and that Romo is capable of doing what Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers did Sunday, that those were “his kind of throws” — a preposterous statement for even the biggest Romo fans to ponder. Rodgers has been the league’s best passer for years and is currently on the hottest streak of his life.
The Cowboys didn’t realize how good Rodgers was when the game began (Jones’ words), and they were still complacent enough on the final play from scrimmage — a third-and-20 — to have six defensive backs behind tight end Jared Cook, sort of roaming the field in search of a high, floating “Hail Mary” pass with no idea that Rodgers was capable of throwing a 36-yard dart to put Green Bay into field goal range.
Regardless, Romo isn’t Rodgers. He’s a credible starting quarterback but with the one great conundrum to which no one has the answer.
Romo can play if he can play. He started and finished two games in 2015. He was 3-for-4 this season.
The years are passing him by and he isn’t getting any action here and he shouldn’t, now that Dak Prescott has been discovered and unveiled.
But the high praise is a subtle reminder to any interested team that it’s going to cost something (but not much) and the Cowboys’ hope is simply that two teams will decide they want in. That creates a market and gives Jones the opportunity to land a reasonable draft pick for the Cowboys’ 10-year starter.
Garrett, however, certainly sounded like a man bidding a teary-eyed goodbye to Romo on his way out the door. He said, “Good things will happen for Tony Romo. We certainly want the best for him, whether it’s here or someplace else.”
On paper, it might seem like a great idea to have two really good starting quarterbacks. Jones maintains that view, having seen the number of teams that languished when forced to go with unsteady backups. And, needless to say, he’s mindful of what took place here in 2015 when Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore posted a 1-11 record in the games they started.
Knowing how Jones believes in his abilities to sell, perhaps he will try to convince Romo that his post-playing days career is with the Cowboys organization. And that might be the case but there’s no reason for Romo to assume he has to sit on the bench here for another year or two waiting for that management promotion.
Naturally, there are salary-cap ramifications to be considered in any trade or release of Romo. Cap money can be spread out over two seasons and minimized by waiting until a June release although that means keeping Romo’s high cap number while the Cowboys are trying to build through free agency. But with the cap continuing to soar, perhaps moving as high as $170 million for 2017, the Cowboys can mostly do what they want.
And the same goes for Houston and that awful Brock Osweiler contract. Romo shouldn’t finish his fine career in Dallas, but it would make sense if he rides into the sunset in Texas.
