Romo, out: Cowboys to release Tony Romo on Tuesday; quarterback will retire and enter broadcasting
The longer-than-we-expected-it-to-last drama between Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys will reportedly reach a resolution on Tuesday, with the Cowboys releasing their longtime quarterback and Romo retiring from the NFL to begin a career in broadcasting.
That’s according to a report from ESPN’s Todd Archer and Adam Schefter.
Archer and Schefter write that there’s really only one decision left to be made: which network Romo will sign with. The Cowboys will release their all-time leading passer on Tuesday, and Romo has apparently already decided to hang up his helmet after dealing with multiple injuries in recent years. Citing multiple sources, Archer and Schefter reported that Romo’s health and family were “paramount” in his decision to walk away.
Dallas will reportedly designate Romo as a post-June 1 release, which allows them to spread out the cap hit they’ll take by releasing Romo. Instead of counting $24.7 million against the cap for 2017, a post-June 1 designation means he’ll count $10.7 million this year and $8.9 million in 2018.
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Romo, who turns 37 later this month, has received interest from CBS, Fox and NBC, and reportedly has the option to be a color commentator for NFL games; Yahoo’s Charles Robinson has reported that one network has offered Romo the chance to work on NFL and golf broadcasts.
On Monday, Dallas informed NFL clubs that they were free to contact Romo and his agent to schedule workouts, visits and physicals; over the last couple of months there have been numerous theories on what might happen for Romo – would he be traded or released to end up with either Denver or Houston, both solid teams who could use a better quarterback – or would Dallas release him and he’d sign with a network?
It looks like the latter is the answer, though we’ve been told Houston owner Bob McNair was very high on bringing Romo to the Texans.
Undrafted out of Eastern Illinois in 2003, Romo became the Cowboys’ starter during the 2006 season, a job he held for a decade. But a back injury suffered during the preseason last year opened the door for rookie Dak Prescott, and Prescott showed fairly quickly that Dallas had found its Romo successor.
A four-time Pro Bowler who led the Cowboys to the playoffs four times, Romo ends his career fourth all-time in passer rating, with a career mark of 97.1.
More from Shutdown Corner on Tony Romo’s retirement
• 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?
• Jerry Jones, Dak Prescott among those to heap praise on Tony Romo upon his retirement
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