Giants sign WR Marshall to 2-year contract
The Giants found a complement to Odell Beckham Jr. on Wednesday by signing veteran free-agent receiver Brandon Marshall to a two-year, $12 million contact.
DALLAS >> Tony Romo’s star-crossed career as the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys will soon be over.
A person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press that the Cowboys will release Romo when the NFL year opens on Thursday. The person spoke to the AP on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the team hasn’t announced a decision on Romo, who will get a chance to pursue a starting job elsewhere.
Romo will leave the Cowboys as the franchise leader in yards passing (34,183) and touchdowns (248). But he could never match the postseason success of Hall of Famers and multiple Super Bowl winners Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.
A 10-year starter who joined the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2003, Romo lost the job last season to rookie Dak Prescott after breaking a bone in his back in a preseason game.
When he was healthy again, Romo conceded the job to Prescott during a franchise-record 11game winning streak. His departure has been expected ever since.
A trade was unlikely because Romo turns 37 next month, carries a $24 million salary cap hit and has missed most of the past two seasons with injuries. But he should be attractive as a free agent to contenders wanting a quarterback, a list that could include Denver and Houston.
A release will free about $5 million in cap space for the Cowboys, who can split the dead money from a $19 million hit over two seasons.
Romo was 78-49 as the starter, but his playoff debut 10 years ago illustrated the postseason struggles ahead when he infamously flubbed the snap on what could have been a winning field goal in Seattle.
Giants sign Marshall to 2-year contract
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. >> Eli Manning and the New York Giants now have two legitimate threats on the outside.
The Giants found a complement to Odell Beckham Jr. on Wednesday by signing veteran free-agent receiver Brandon Marshall to a two-year, $12 million contact.
Marshall said the Giants’ offer might have been the lowest that he got after being released by the Jets last week.
However, Ben McAdoo’s team, which made the playoffs with an 11-5 record last season, offered him something else.
“It was all about championships,” said Marshall, who has never made the playoffs since being drafted in the first round by Denver in 2006. “To get straight to the point — it was all about a championship, they presented the best opportunity to be in a championship organization.”
Marshall offers the Giants a lot. He is a big target at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, and he has been productive. In 167 regularseason games with Denver, Miami, Chicago and the Jets, he has caught 941 passes for 12,061 yards and 82 touchdowns.
The soon-to-be 33-yearold had 59 catches for 788 yards and three touchdowns last season.
Bills sticking with QB Taylor
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. >> Tyrod Taylor will remain the Buffalo Bills starter after the team announced it restructured the player’s fiveyear contract extension on Wednesday.
The move was made a day before the NFL’s freeagency period began, and before the Bills faced a deadline on Saturday to determine whether to pick up the extension Taylor signed in August or part ways with the two-year starter.
Taylor’s long-term future in Buffalo had otherwise been in question since the season ended, when general manager Doug Whaley declined to say whether the team was committed to keeping the player.