Tony Romo Trade Rumors: Cowboys’ QB Staying In Dallas? Jones Announces Deadline
The Tony Romo trade rumors may be on the back burner as the Dallas Cowboys still have the star quarterback on the roster. With this week’s NFL owners’ meetings in Arizona, many analysts, and fans of the teams involved believed Romo might finally get dealt in a trade to either the Houston Texans or Denver Broncos. However, those meetings have come and gone with Romo remaining a part of the Cowboys’ roster. Another roster move, although not from an NFL team, may give a strong indication of who will land Romo when all is said and done.
It’s been no secret that Houston, Denver and sports networks all want Romo working for them. However, there have not been any comments made by Romo lately regarding what he’s leaning towards. The NFL free agency period started up weeks ago, and with it, so did the trade rumor mill, but nobody really budged on a Romo trade or release. It brought more rumors that maybe a big trade was coming when the owners met up this week. Still nothing, but now it appears an end date is in sight for everyone involved.
According to USA Today, Jerry Jones gave clarity to when something will finally happen involving Tony Romo. On Tuesday, Jones said that he hopes the deadline for a decision on Romo will fall “before training camp.” When Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett was asked about it, he deferred to the parties involved in the decision, rather than suggesting he has any insight into what may go down.
“Yeah, nothing really to update. Nothing’s really changed since the end of the season. It’s a situation that we’re working through. He and (owner) Jerry Jones are the principal people in working that situation through, and it’s really been status quo.”
As was reported on Wednesday at Dallas Sportsday via USA Today, Houston Texans’ owner Bob McNair commented on the difficult situation Romo is in with his longtime quarterback. McNair alluded to the trade his team made to free up $16 million in salary by trading their QB Brock Osweiler to the Cleveland Browns.
“He saw the trade we made, [Jones] wants to make a trade. I understand that. But he’s between a rock and a hard place with that.”
Jones has always maintained that he has Romo’s best interests at heart. On Thursday’s episode of FS1’s Skip and Shannon Undisputed, sports journalist Skip Bayless discussed why it may be in Jerry Jones’ best interest to just keep Romo on the roster for next season.
Bayless admitted he was shocked by McNair’s public comments if the Texans’ owner was really still interested in acquiring Romo. However, Bayless also admitted that if Romo leaves and Dak struggles in his sophomore season “it will make Jerry Jones look foolish and haunt Jerry Jones for the rest of his days.”
With that said, Jones also told the media with regards to Romo’s condition that “He’s doing really great” and has “got a lot of options to mull over.” Unless Jones convinces Romo he can stay in Dallas and start next season, Tony’s options will likely include signing with a new NFL team of his choice or signing on with a major sports network. Two such networks have been a part of the rumor mill and news reports for the past several weeks: Fox Sports and CBS Sports.
A big move was recently made on the CBS Sports roster which could signal Romo is headed there, or that they are serious about acquiring him. On Thursday, Sports Illustrated reported that TheNFL Today analyst and former player Tony Gonzalez is leaving the network. He thanked the network while also indicating he would continue working in the field elsewhere.
“While I hope to remain in broadcasting I will look to do so in the L.A. area. I can’t thank CBS enough for their support.”
Gonzalez worked for the show for three years, which has led to some speculation that another Tony could take his spot. However, reports via some websites including SI indicate that Romo would probably prefer a job calling games rather than serving as an analyst in the studio. That would give him a similar position to another Cowboys great, Troy Aikman, who calls games on Sundays.
So for now, the Tony Romo trade rumors are seeming to fade as it appears there will be no trade for the Cowboys star. It’s been back and forth for months now with regards to the Dallas Cowboys simply letting Romo walk and sign for a team of his choice to owner Jerry Jones seeing if he could get something in value from an interested party. Unfortunately for Jones and the Cowboys, the two interested teams fully realize they can just wait for Romo’s release to make their offers.
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