The Cowboys announced Tuesday that they are releasing Romo at the quarterback’s request. He will retire from the NFL and pursue a career in broadcasting, the statement said.
In the statement, team owner Jerry Jones said, “We wish Tony and his family nothing but the best. As an organization, we did what he asked us to do in terms of his release, and we wanted to do what was ultimately in his best interest and in the best interest of his family.”
“When you think about the NFL, two of the most iconic brands are the Dallas Cowboys and CBS Sports,” Romo said in a Tuesday news release from CBS. “Going from one legendary team to another as I begin the next phase of my career is a dream come true. I have always known that once my playing career was over I wanted to become a broadcaster. I am ecstatic for the opportunity to work with Jim as I learn the craft and convey to fans my passion for this great game.”
Romo will become CBS Sports’ lead NFL game analyst beginning with the 2017-18 season, Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports, announced in the same statement. He will join Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson on CBS’ top team.
“Tony has been one of the NFL’s biggest stars for the past decade; and we are thrilled to welcome him to CBS Sports,” McManus said.
Romo didn’t want his playing career to end the way it did, losing his starting job to injury and then watching rookie Dak Prescott play at such a high level he couldn’t get it back. But in the end, quality of life and the opportunity to climb the network food chain made more sense.
Remember, Romo has played in just two games the past two seasons that he was in from start to finish. He turns 37 later this month and his third child is on the way.
The Cowboys released Romo as a June 1 cut early Tuesday afternoon. This splits his salary cap hit to the Cowboys over the next two seasons, freeing up $14 million in space for 2017.
The drawback: the club won’t be able draw from that pool for player acquisition or to extend existing contracts for three months.
“Tony has been a wonderful representative of the Cowboys organization for 14 years, and he left everything he had on the field,” Jones said. “He will leave us with many great memories and a legacy of being, truly, one of the greatest players in Cowboys history. We are thrilled for him and his family that he will be able to continue working as a professional in the game he so dearly loves.
“He is a young man who is just getting started on a long journey in life. All the best my friend.”
Romo started 127 games for the Cowboys over the last 11 seasons. Troy Aikman is the only quarterback in the franchise’s rich history with more starts. Romo’s run came to an unceremonious end this past season due to another back injury and the success the team enjoyed with Dak Prescott.
The quarterback’s time with the Cowboys has always been something of a Rohrshack test. Romo has hit one statistical high note after another during the regular season yet often fallen flat in the postseason.
Is the lack of playoff success a reflection of Romo’s shortcomings or an indictment of Jones’ ability to surround the quarterback with enough talent? That debate will continue among fans as Romo moves on.
In the team statement, coach Jason Garrett said: “Tony Romo has a unique combination of athletic ability, arm talent, vision, and instincts for the game. What separates Tony from many other players, however, is a rare competitive spirit. Tony loves to play. Tony loves to compete. The best ones always do. In practice. During games. On the field. Off the field. Tony competes to the end in everything that he does.”That relentless spirit that Tony plays with is contagious. He makes his teammates better. He makes his coaches better. He makes his team better. He has grown so much as a player and as a person over the course of his career and has made a significant impact on the lives of so many. I consider myself fortunate to be at the top of that list. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to work with Tony Romo, one of the greatest players in Dallas Cowboys history.”
Romo leaves having thrown for 34,183 yards, more than any other quarterback in franchise history. He holds a majority of the club’s career records, including scoring passes (248), games with a passer rating of 100 or greater (66), 300-yard games (46), games with three or more touchdowns (40), 20-plus touchdown seasons (7) and 400-yard games (5). He has completed 2,829-of-4,335 passes to rank second in both categories.
Only two players in NFL history — Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and New England’s Tom Brady — boast a career quarterback rating higher than Romo’s 97.1. He led the Cowboys to a 12-4 record and Wild Card playoff win over Detroit in his last full season as a starter.
These gaudy statistics are tempered by a lack of postseason success. Romo has presided over only two playoff wins in six attempts and has never gotten the Cowboys past the second round of the playoffs.
Romo currently has a salary cap hit of $24.7 million. In the NFL’s complex financial world, the Cowboys are actually on the hook for $19.6 as they sever ties with Romo. If he’s designated as a June 1 cut, as expected, the club will split that number over two seasons. He will count $10.7 million against the cap in ’17 and $8.9 million next season.
An undrafted rookie out of Eastern Illinois, Romo spent a three-year apprenticeship with the Cowboys before ever throwing a regular season pass. He took over as the starter for veteran Drew Bledsoe in the second half of a game against the New York Giants in October of ’06 and never looked back until he was replaced by Prescott.
Romo missed a career-high 12 games in ’15 after fracturing his clavicle. Twice. The quarterback had a cyst removed from his back in the spring of ’13 and missed the team’s offseason program. Before the year was done he underwent surgery for a herniated disk, missing the final game of the regular season against Philadelphia when the team had a chance to win the division.
In November of ’14 he missed a game after suffering a fracture of the transverse process in his back.
The bottom line: Romo, who turns 37 on April 21, has played in just five games the past two seasons. He has failed to finish three of the last five games he’s started, including the preseason game in August against Seattle when he suffered an L1 compression fracture in his back, opening the door for Prescott.
Club officials anticipated that Romo would return to the starting lineup when healthy. But Prescott performed at such a high level and the team was so successful it never happened.
The veteran quarterback gave what amounted to a concession speech in the days leading up to the team’s game against Baltimore in mid-November. Romo read a statement that detailed his frustrations, pledged support to his heir apparent and elevated the importance of team over ego.
Romo’s remarks pointedly sidestepped the long-term implications of the franchise’s shift to Prescott. He walked a fine and often poignant line, saying his desire to compete still burned bright while making it clear he would not be a distraction in the final weeks and months as this team made its playoff push.
“He’s earned the right to be our quarterback,” Romo said of Prescott on that day.
He then paused, as he did at several other points during a statement that lasted just under five minutes.
“As hard as that is for me to say, he’s earned that right,” Romo continued. “He’s guided our team to an 8-1 record and that’s hard to do.
