Emmitt Smith thinks Tony Romo can play into late 30s
By Mike Dyce
The Dallas Cowboys passed up on Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel to show their commitment to Tony Romo. With Romo coming off back surgery for the second straight offseason, it has raised some questions about his durability and whether he’ll be able to play for years to come.
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Former Cowboys running back and NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith thinks Romo can play late into his 30s.
“Yeah, I think it’s possible,” Smith said, via the Dallas Morning News. “But is it going to happen? You have to take one year at a time. For Romo, who is coming off a back surgery, you just don’t know how your body is going to respond.”
Romo himself has said he wants to play for another five to six seasons. Smith shed some light on what made him decide to retire.
“After 15 years of being in the locker room, doing the same old monotonous things, offseason training, OTAs, training camp, football road trips, all of that, it got to be old,” Smith said. “Not to mention, as you start to see some of your compadres leave the game, whether it’s Troy [Aikman], Michael [Irvin], Daryl Johnston, Jay Novacek, Charles Haley and many other players start to retire, part of you starts to retire with them.
“For me, after 15 years, and having a chance to reflect on my career, I was able to look back and say, ‘I have won three Super Bowls, I was named MVP, I am the all-time leading rusher, I was able to play on great football teams, and played for the team that I always wanted to play for. There isn’t anything else left for me to accomplish in the National Football League, so why continue to play and subject myself to the possibility of getting injured and hurting myself in a way that could harm me for life?’”