According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, the Cowboys and QB Tony Romo have yet to have a formal conversation about his immediate future with the team and talks are unlikely to take place until the Scouting Combine.
La Canfora anticipates there being an “emotional exchange” between Romo and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones about what they’ll do moving forward.
There has been a lot of speculation about what the Cowboys will ultimately do with him, but La Canfora says that Romo doesn’t have a mandate or an expectation about what the Cowboys should do with him.
La Canfora says that Carson Palmer‘s decision to return for the 2017 season effectively takes them out of the mix for Romo, which leaves the Texans, Chiefs and Broncos as the most intriguing options for Romo still remaining.
Meanwhile, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes that Romo “undoubtedly” wants to be released as this would allow him to choose his next team and allow him to secure a new market-value contract.
Florio adds that Romo clearly has leverage in the situation if he wants to use it and a no team is willing to trade him and his current contract. Dallas would be forced to either release him or keep him for the 2017 season as their backup for $14 million.
Even so, Florio believes the two parties will find an amicable solution in the end that makes sense for both sides. Florio expects them to at least come to a “wink-nod agreement” that he won’t play for a team like the Redskins.
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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