Tony Romo Retired from the NFL to Commentate on the NFL, Despite Still Being Able to Play NFL
Tony Romo had several options as his Dallas Cowboys career came to an end. He’d returned feeling as good as he had in years for the 2016 season but was injured pretty much immediately in the preseason and that’d cost him almost the entire campaign. By the time he was fit again, rookie Dak Prescott had surpassed him at quarterback with his own brilliant play and being so much younger than Romo, the team was forced to move beyond their all-time leader in passing touchdowns, passing yards and game-winning drives.
Look, it happens. No matter how important the player nobody plays on forever and eventually they all need replacing. The Cowboys had been ready to move on from Romo ever since Prescott’s emergence lasted beyond the point where you could still call it a fluke. Romo had options though. There are only so many teams able to drop everything to sign a veteran QB but there were contracts there waiting for him if he wanted them. All sorts of contracts. In the end he signed the one that offered him the most years.
CBS!? He stiffed the prospect of playing with J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney to sit next to Jim Nantz and talk for a living. Beats getting smacked in the ribs, aye? Romo’s competitive streak is in no doubt but physically he’s only made five starts in two years and he’d lost his place at the only professional team he’d ever known in the process. Here was the chance to become a colour commentator and begin a new career, using the experience he’s already chalked up in 14 years within the NFL. It’s a wild situation but you can hardly argue with the man’s decision.
Make no mistake, the Dallas Cowboys come out very nicely here too. It’s way better this way for them, having to cut ties with a beloved and iconic player but doing so with his replacement already settled in and thriving. Quarterback transitions don’t always go so smoothly.
Most teams will think enough into the future to contemplate grooming a successor for their franchise QB but good intentions are one thing and reality is another. Brock Osweiler hit free agency by the time Peyton was ready to step down (might have dodged a bullet there). Jimmy Garoppolo will probably get traded long before Tom Brady hangs up the cleats. The New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers spring to mind, currently with no plan beyond Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. It’s a luxury to have a player as talented as either of those blokes but it’s also a luxury to be able to replace them. Good luck with that. The Dallas Cowboys got lucky and it meant the end of Romo’s career in Dallas.
Oh but Romo was never gonna need a flaming barrel to keep warm after Dallas. He came back in the last game of the 2016 regular season and appeared in one offensive drive. He led the Cowboys down the field for 81 yards and a touchdown, his 248th and final one for Dallas. Just to show everyone that he still had it.
At first the Cowboys seemed primed to release him. Romo had a big salary and any new suitors would rather figure out their own terms there. But then it sounded like they were stalling on releasing him in case a trade opportunity arrived, which would be the best thing for their salary cap. Except that to trade a big contract like that when everyone knows you’ll otherwise release him anyway, you need to drive up a big market and the fact was there weren’t that many teams that could reasonably offer him a place.
That sounds crazy because a fully-fit Tony Romo remains one of the very best players in the NFL. But that ‘fully-fit’ thing is a huge asterisk and even if he did get through a full season for the first time since… 2012 (and even when he played 16 games he was hardly ever 100% - though you can say that for most NFL players)… then at age 36 he wasn’t gonna be around much longer. And Romo wasn’t gonna play just for the sake of it. If he was gonna sign with a new team then it had to be a team capable of challenging in the playoffs. He’s in win-now mode and that didn’t leave very many options who didn’t already have quality QBs. Arguably just the Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. And there’s no guarantee about the Broncos being interested.
So you know what he did: he signed that deal with CBS. Yeah, while everyone was waiting for him to get released so he could pick his next NFL team, he instead took up the opportunity to move on into the commentator’s box. Move the hell over, Phil Simm, there’s a new sheriff in town (good riddance, tbh).
Romo’s a wonderful talker and a really interesting dude to listen to. He’s come from being an undrafted free agent to have a career that might just edge him into the Hall of Fame. Maybe… but that’s an argument for a different day. Once he’d gotten back to fitness in 2016 and the team had to officially make Prescott the starter over Romo, the veteran held a press conference in which he spoke remarkably eloquently about wanting to play but accepting the team’s best interests. For a player that was widely criticised (very often unfairly) for being something of a choker in the big time, only winning a couple of playoff games in his career, he was suddenly getting pats on the back from all over the media. Only a cold-hearted cynic would call that presser an open audition but it probably didn’t harm his media chances either. He’ll be a natural in the booth with a microphone.
It’s the way he retired that really makes you ponder. Free agency wars are nothing new at all but for the winning party to be a broadcaster? Romo chose TV over football. It’s not something that we can call a game-changer because as few starting quarterback positions that exist, there are even fewer lead broadcasting roles on major networks. It just so happens that Phil Simms was becoming a drag to CBS, nobody likes to listen to a boring muppet who says boringly obvious stuff. So they’ve replaced him (with no mention of where Simms goes from here) with Romo despite Tony have zero broadcast experience.
Zero experience is harsh, actually. He’s been live on telly, he can talk to a mic, he’s used to being in the public arena… all are skills that’ll translate well. Plus he’ll be a refreshingly vibrant personality in a position where that’s so often overlooked. For example, over on Fox, the other major NFL broadcaster. They have Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (another Cowboys’ QB legend) as their number one team and there were reports that they’d look into Romo for their second tier duo but with CBS offering numero uno status, that was never gonna fly. Not even with a vacant seat after John Lynch took the San Francisco 49ers GM role.
All of which suggesting that this was a rare situation where a TV-ready personality was also finishing his career at the same time as a huge commentary opportunity emerged. There are only a handful of guys who could fill those shoes at this very moment in the NFL – could you imagine Tom Brady trying to analyse the Browns? He’s probably never even met his next door neighbours, that guy just does what Belichick tells him to (granted as well as it can possibly be done). Or Russell Wilson with all his off-field corniness. Or Cam Newton and his frivolities. And don’t even start thinking of anyone who’s not a quarterback – there’s only one position the networks care about.
Drew Brees, could maybe do it but he’s still playing. Peyton Manning too except he’s already said he doesn’t want a media career. As for Romo, chances are he’s already started training. The option of moving into the media after retirement is nothing new for pro athletes, in fact flick on the sports channels and your screen is littered with them. If you can string a few sentences together then you can get an analyst’s job somewhere. However Tony Romo’s been offered one so tasty that he actually turned down the chance to keep playing to take it up. All power to him.