MRI Reveals Tony Romo Has Broken Bone In His Back, Out 6-10 Weeks

Update:

Ed Werder of ESPN reports that Tony Romo has no plans to consider retirement, despite his latest back injury. According to Werder, there’s no doubt Romo will return and play this season.

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Jason La Canfora reports that Cowboys QB Tony Romo’s timetable could end up being 6-10 weeks, which means he may need to be placed on the team’s PUP or injured reserve list, depending on how he heals in the coming weeks.

• Meanwhile, Ian Rapoport reports that the best-case scenario for Romo is that he would be available by mid-season.
• Rapoport adds that Romo broke a different bone than last time. However, it’s the kind of injury that will likely linger throughout the season and require an epidural to play.
• Ed Werder reports that Romo’s back fracture won’t require surgery.
• According to Todd Archer, Romo suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebrae.
• Former NFL physician David Chao mentions that this type of injury requires a player to ensure that he’s fully healthy or risk major injury, including paralysis.

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Cowboys HC Jason Garrett announced Saturday that QB Tony Romo did, in fact, undergo an MRI on his back Friday. The test revealed that Romo has a broken bone in his back, per Clarence Hill.

Garrett said that there’s currently no timetable for his return, but he is expected to return at some point this season, per Hill.

Upon waking up on Friday, Garrett says that Romo didn’t feel so good and his back had stiffened up on him, which explains why they had an MRI performed.

This means that rookie QB Dak Prescott could open the year as the Cowboys’ starter.

It’s worth mentioning that Romo has played with fractures in his back before, and explains why Garrett has refused to rule him out for the opener.

Here’s the play in which Romo was hurt:

Tony Romo appeared to hurt his back. Great block by Zeke, but certainly not what the Cowboys want to see pic.twitter.com/21rt9cUjp2

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 26, 2016

Romo, 36, is in the third year of his seven-year, $119.5 million contract that included $55 million guaranteed. He stands to make base salaries of $8.5 million (2016), $14 million (2017), $19.5 million (2018) and $20.5 million (2019).

In 2015, Romo threw for 884 yards while completing 68.6 percent of his passes to go along with five touchdowns and seven interceptions over the course of four games for the Cowboys.

We’ll have more regarding Romo as the news is available.