According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Broncos appear to be “clearly in the driver’s seat” for Tony Romo if he’s willing to accept a pay cut from the $14 million he’s owed for this season.
Rapoport points out that the Cowboys will most likely have to release Romo after the start of the new league year and wouldn’t be able to take on the cap hit they would incur y releasing him now. This means that Romo is likely to be designated as a Post-June 1 release after March 9.
Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones mentioned today that they have no plans to meet with Romo at the Combine, but they’ll sit down with him sooner than later.
This past weekend, Mike Klis of 9News mentioned that the Broncos will likely “at least discuss” the possibility of signing Romo when/if he is released by the Cowboys. However, if the cost to sign Romo ends up being around $13 million annually, Klis mentions that Denver may not be able to compete with the other teams in the mix for him.
If Romo is willing to play for a “few million dollars less” to try to make a run at a Super Bowl, then the Broncos could end up being a real possibility for him.
Klis says that by bringing Romo in, it would be a clear indication that John Elway believes former first-round pick Paxton Lynch isn’t ready to run the team yet.
Romo, 36, is entering the fourth year of his seven-year, $119.5 million contract that included $55 million guaranteed. He stands to make base salaries of $14 million (2017), $19.5 million (2018) and $20.5 million (2019).
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing or trading Romo would free up $5.1 million in available cap space while creating a staggering $19.6 million in dead money, which figures to be a huge consideration for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys could improve those figures to $14 million of cap savings and $10.7 million of dead money if they were to designate him as a post-June 1 release.
In 2016, Romo appeared in one game and completed three of four passing attempts for 29 yards and a touchdown for the Cowboys.
We’ll have more regarding Romo as the news is available.
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