Rainer Sabin of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Cowboys and QB Tony Romo have yet to begin formal discussions on a long-term contract extension.
“We have to have alternative plans,” said vice president Stephen Jones. “We have them. They’re not as pleasant and he’s aware of it. He’s pretty aware of that. It’s pretty clear. When you have a great quarterback — and we’re fortunate to have one – they take up a significant amount of your cap space. Tony has been a great partner to us but he also understands it has ramifications in terms of what we can and can’t do with the cap.”
Dallas is currently projected to be $20 million over the salary cap, according to Sabin. Romo’s 2013 cap figure is $16.8 million, which means he’s as good of a candidate as any to restructure his contract.
The Cowboys have said numerous times that they intend to lockup Romo long-term, so it would make sense for them lower his current cap figure in the process.
Romo, 33, may prefer to wait until other quarterbacks like Joe Flacco, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan have signed their contracts before agreeing to anything with the Cowboys.
If that’s the case, Romo could be expecting a sizable pay increase as those players figure to command annual salaries as high as $20 million per year. While Romo figures to fall short of that figure, it could still be used to his advantage in negotiations.
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
