If you missed it, Tony Romo has retired from the Dallas Cowboys to join CBS as its lead analyst on NFL games.

And with that, praise for the Cowboys’ all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns started rolling in.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had a famously close relationship with his quarterback. When the team sent an email at 2:01 p.m. Central time announcing it had released Romo (which was done for salary-cap reasons), included was a kind statement from Jones.

Jones: “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.

“Tony has been a wonderful representative of the Cowboys organization for 14 years, and he left everything he had on the field. 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.”

The Romo story can’t be told without including Dak Prescott, the 2016 rookie who played so well when Romo was hurt that Romo never got his job back. Prescott has said that Romo was a great teammate to him, and he thanked Romo on Instagram.

Terrance Williams, who caught what ended up being Romo’s last NFL pass for a touchdown in Romo’s lone drive last season, also had a simple message for his former teammate.

Romo’s legacy will be debated for a long time, especially when a curious Hall of Fame debate starts in five years, but he clearly had the respect of his teammates and coaches.

“Tony Romo has a unique combination of athletic ability, arm talent, vision, and instincts for the game,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said in a statement. “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.”

More from Shutdown Corner on Tony Romo’s retirement
• Tony Romo cut by Cowboys, retires to join broadcast booth
• CBS wins bidding war for Romo, makes him analyst on its No. 1 broadcast team
• Texans are the main domino to fall in Tony Romo fallout, but there are others
• Bonnie Bernstein: ‘Total crap’ that Romo gets No. 1 CBS job with no experience
• Is Tony Romo the most overrated and underrated quarterback the NFL has seen?

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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