Cowboys VP Stephen Jones Believes Tony Romo Would Accept Being A Backup

Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones said Friday that he believes veteran QB Tony Romo would accept being backup if they felt it was necessary.

“Well, first of all Tony’s a competitor and obviously all competitors want to be the very best they can be, they want to play, they want to start,” Jones said in an interview with 105.3 The Fan, via the Dallas Morning News. “Any athlete who has ever played a sport wants to contribute and certainly he does.

“At the same time, I think Tony’s the consummate team player and I think if it meant as part of the process with Tony going into games as a backup then, I don’t want to speak for him, but my guess would be that he would.”

As for when a decision could be made, Jones said they’re getting closer to having Romo active as their backup quarterback.

“I just think those are all things that we’ll determine at the proper time,” Jones said. “Obviously this game is getting close. We’ll certainly make that determination. I know he’s questionable for this game, but we’ll determine that at game time. At some point if we do feel that he’s ready to go then he’d certainly go into the game as a backup.”

Previous reports have pegged Week 10 as the earliest date in which Romo would be back. However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Dallas is comfortable sticking with rookie QB Dak Prescott as their starter and buying Romo additional time to ensure he’s 100 percent healthy before he’s active for a game.

Even then, it seems unlikely that the Cowboys would make a change at quarterback or at least until Prescott struggles.

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 and his return as the news is available.