Cowboys honor Ware, post-Romo future secure

Jerry Jones honored DeMarcus Ware with a ceremonial signing Monday that allowed the franchise sacks leader to retire as a Dallas Cowboy on the same day the team owner discussed how the draft might help find the next dominant pass rusher.

Whenever the Cowboys decide to pay homage to Tony Romo with their 10year starter heading to the broadcast booth, they will do so feeling secure about their future under center. They won’t be thinking much about quarterbacks in the first round Thursday night.

Jones couldn’t have imagined this a year ago before the Cowboys took Dak Prescott in the fourth round with the idea he might someday replace Romo. Instead, Prescott put up one of the best rookie seasons in NFL history to basically end Romo’s Dallas tenure.

“It just really shows me that positive things are more likely to happen to you than because of you,” Jones said. “To be sitting here right now with the future as we have it, I could have never dreamed that this hand would have been dealt this way.”

So maybe the Cowboys can get lucky in their search for the next Ware, who won his only Super Bowl in three seasons with Denver after Dallas cut him in a salary cap move following the 2013 season when he had 117 sacks in nine years. The 34-yearold Ware, who retired last month , finished with 138 1/2 sacks, eighth on NFL’s career list.