Dallas Cowboys Rumors: Team Already Looking For Tony Romo’s Replacement
The Dallas Cowboys are heading into the 2015 NFL season with Tony Romo under center as their starting quarterback. His contract with the team runs through 2019, but he’s also 35-years-old, and that means it may soon be time for him to groom a successor. Rumor has it that the Cowboys are not only about to start looking for Romo’s replacement, but they’ve already been doing it.
It’s something that has been tossed around and discussed, but the Cowboys will essentially say they aren’t looking to get rid of Romo. At least, not yet.
ESPN‘s Todd Archer had his normal Cowboys’ mailbag full of questions, and someone actually posted that inquiry to him. Not only did they ask about the successor to Tony Romo, but they name-dropped a specific quarterback too.
Who will be @tonyromo successor?? #cowboysmail @toddarcher Weeden proved he cannot carry the o
— RaúL (@DeepBarber) July 17, 2015
To suggest that Brandon Weeden could be the successor for Tony Romo and starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is a bit of a stretch. Even the Dallas News believes Weeden is “worse than average” in the ranking of the NFL’s backup quarterbacks.
Archer isn’t entirely sure that Weeden will even be with the Cowboys after this upcoming season. He believes that Romo’s successor is still in college and probably just in his second year at most.
“I don’t know who thought of Brandon Weeden as a possible successor to Tony Romo. He will be a free agent after this season anyway. But I believe Romo’s successor is probably a sophomore in college right now. I’ve said this before that whenever Romo decides he doesn’t want to play or whenever the Cowboys decide Romo can’t play at a high level, then that’s when they’ll draft the guy. I realize a lot of people fall in love with the idea of drafting a quarterback early, letting him watch and learn and then take over the job after a year or two. It just doesn’t work that way. You draft a guy early and you play him. With the offensive line the Cowboys will have in place, then that will help Romo’s successor immensely.”
Well, that may be true, but the Dallas Cowboys are already looking at some of the college-level quarterbacks. Prior to the NFL Draft, they worked out Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion, who is now with the St. Louis Rams.
At one point, the Cowboys were also linked to former Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty, but he ended up being drafted by the New York Jets.
Tony Romo’s monster contract was restructured by the Cowboys back in April, and it was able to free up some cap space for the team. It’s valued at $108 million overall, and it didn’t cut his pay, but simply rearranged the money over the years.
Looking down the line, he’s due to make $25.2 million in 2018 and then $23.7 million in 2019, the final year of his contract. He would be 39-years-old by the time his deal expires, and by then, the Cowboys need to have a successor ready.
The Dallas Cowboys know that Tony Romo’s time as their starting quarterback won’t last forever, but it may be up sooner than they think. Having a replacement starting to get ready now could benefit them greatly.
[Image via Getty Images]
