Our long national nightmare is over.
Tony Romo, still technically a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, is retiring from football and going into broadcasting. Romo will be released sometime Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Romo reportedly has received interest from Fox, CBS and NBC and will probably have his pick of the networks, but had been mulling the decision to step away from football for the past several weeks.
Earlier in the week, there were reports that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had told general managers around the league to contact him with their trade offers. Romo’s health, Schefter reported, was ultimately the deciding factor.
Romo has made appearaces in only five games over the past two seasons because of collarbone and injuries - it was a compression fracture in his back that forced Romo to hand the reins over to rookie Dak Prescott last season.
“If you think for a second that I don’t want to be out there, than you’ve probably never felt the ecstasy of competing and winning,” Romo said last November. “That hasn’t left me. In fact, it may burn more now than ever. It’s not always easy to watch and I think anyone who has been in this position understands that.”
By releasing Romo, the Cowboys will lessen his strain on their salary cap. They can designate him as a post-June 1 release, which will change his cap hit from $24.7 million to $10.7 million and shift $8.9 million onto the 2018 cap. The additional $14 million this year will not be available until June 2.
What a release also would mean, though, is that the Cowboys don’t retain Romo’s rights if he chooses to come out of retirement. A team facing a quarterbacking emergency could offer him big bucks to come out of retirement, or he could be willing to play for much less if he misses the thrill of it all.
In every likelihood, though, Romo is trading the field for the booth.
• Nora Princiotti can be reached at nprinciotti@washingtontimes.com.
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