Romo’s status locked in stalemate for now

Dallas seemed set to let him go, to Texans or possibly Broncos

The Dallas Cowboys Tony Romo.

That means that Romo still doesn’t have a starting job on a Super Bowl contender, and it means that the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans still (probably) don’t have a championship-caliber quarterback for the 2017 season. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Romo was supposed to have been released by now. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was supposed to do right still have by Romo and put the four-time Pro Bowl quarterback fully in charge of picking his next team without holding up the process trying to get something in return via a trade. The Broncos and Texans, freed of the burden of having to surrender a draft pick, were supposed to be making their sales pitches to Romo, trying to persuade him to sign a relatively team-friendly contract in free agency to be the final piece of a potential Super Bowl puzzle for one of those franchises.

But something changed between Wednesday, when it seemed clear that the Cowboys’ plan was to release Romo, and 1 p.m. PT on Thursday, when the move was to have been made. The Cowboys apparently decided they could get something from the Broncos or Texans for Romo. The Broncos and Texans have been busy sending signals that they have no interest in trading for Romo.

So a stare-down has commenced. Who will blink first? Will it be the Cowboys giving up on a trade and allowing Romo to move on? Or will it be the Texans or Broncos agreeing to make a deal with Jones?

It’s difficult to tell at this point which outcome it will be, or when it will happen. But something has to give. It’s impractical for the Cowboys to keep Romo as a backup to Dak Prescott, given their salary cap crunch and the $24.7 million that Romo’s contract would count against their 2017 cap. There has been some speculation that Romo could retire. But he has made it clear that he wants to keep playing, even when he gracefully conceded the Cowboys’ starting job to Prescott this past season.

The Texans seem to need Romo the most after admitting their free agent blunder of a year ago by trading Brock Osweiler on Thursday to the Cleveland Browns, ridding them of Osweiler’s cumbersome contract.

BRANDON WADE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, right, talks with injured quarterback Tony Romo in 2015 in Arlington, Texas. Despite the widespread assumption that Jones would let Romo leave for the team of his choice, he remains in the Dallas fold.