Romo trades in his helmet for microphone
DALLAS — Tony Romo is retiring and replacing another former quarterback in Phil Simms on the top National Football League broadcasting team for CBS after choosing not to chase that elusive Super Bowl with a team other than the Dallas Cowboys.
Romo, who will be paired with playby-play announcer Jim Nantz, considered multiple network offers along with whether he wanted to pursue a Super Bowl elsewhere after losing the starting job in Dallas last season, a person told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Romo hasn’t discussed his plans publicly. A CBS spokesperson did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The departure of the all-time passing leader from the storied franchise has been expected since November, when Romo conceded the job to rookie Dak Prescott after missing 10 weeks with a back injury.
The Cowboys were in the middle of a franchise-record 11-game winning streak when Romo returned from the injury.
Dallas owner Jerry Jones told Romo before free agency opened that the team would release him to give him a chance to continue his career with another contender. But Dallas decided at the last minute to try to generate interest in a trade.
That move gave Romo more time to consider retirement, and the likelihood appeared to grow when he played in a golf tournament last week. Romo, who turns 37 this month, had given up his favourite hobby after a series of back injuries that included two surgeries in less than a year.
Romo, who was signed through 2019, had a $14-million base salary and a $24.7million salary cap hit for the Cowboys this season. The expected roster move will reduce Dallas’ cap hit to about $19 million, likely spread over two seasons.
The franchise leader with 34,183 yards passing and 248 touchdowns, Romo never parlayed his regular-season success into deep playoff runs the way Hall of Famers and multiple Super Bowl winners Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman did before him.
Now Romo will follow Aikman into the broadcast booth. Aikman has been the top analyst with Fox, paired with Joe Buck, since 2002.
Romo was 78-49 as the starter in Dallas, but just 2-4 in the post-season, with no road victories and no trips to the NFC championship game for a proud franchise that is one of just three teams that hasn’t played for the NFC title the past 21 seasons.
His playoff debut a little more than 10 years ago illustrated the playoff struggles ahead when Romo infamously flubbed the snap on what could have been a winning field goal in Seattle.
A year later, the Cowboys lost their playoff opener to the New York Giants as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, a defeat that stung even more for fans because Romo went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, during the bye week with several teammates.
Romo didn’t help his perception after the 2008 season finale, a 44-6 loss at Philadelphia that kept Dallas out of the playoffs when he infamously said: “If this is the worst thing that will ever happen to me, then I’ve lived a pretty good life.”
As time passed, Romo seemed to understand why that quote struck a nerve for fans.
He gave them the only playoff wins for the Cowboys since 1995.
The most recent post-season win — in the wild-card round against Detroit — came during the last season that Romo was the full-time starter in 2014. The next season, he missed 12 games with a twice-broke left collarbone as the Cowboys went first-to-worst at 4-12.