Jerry Jones Doesn’t Rule Out Tony Romo Being Active In Week 10

Following Sunday’s win over the Browns, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not rule out QB Tony Romo being active in Week 10.

“Unlike last week, I wouldn’t speculate,” Jones said. “I don’t know. But he will do more. And he’s really doing things that are strong relative to last year’s strength. He’s ahead of last year.”

However, Ian Rapoport reports that Romo being active next week would be “a big stretch.” According to Rapoport, the plan for Romo on Monday and Tuesday is for him to focus on conditioning and change-of-direction but he may not even practice in full this week.

Rapoport says that Romo doesn’t sound ready return based on what he’s hearing.

On Sunday, Rapoport mentioned that Romo is still in the early stages of his return from a back injury and has yet to take any real team reps during practice.

“The Cowboys really don’t know,” Rapoport said. “But it is important to note what actually happened in practice this week. I’m told it is merely a good start for Romo. He has not even taken real team reps yet, and until he does that, he’s not even in consideration to be — forget about the starter — even the backup. So it certainly seems like the Cowboys are a little ways away from getting Romo on the field. Meanwhile, it seems like they are inclined to ride the hot hand, which means as long as Dak Prescott succeeds, expect him to stay in there.”

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.