Former starting quarterback Tony Romo has moved on to a career in broadcasting, but the Dallas Cowboys still have a locker and his jersey waiting for him.
Even though former starting quarterback Tony Romo has retired from the NFL to pursue a career in broadcasting, the Dallas Cowboys love talking about their former star. Romo was replaced by rookie Dak Prescott last fall after succumbing to an injury in the preseason and Prescott led Dallas to the NFC Playoffs.
Aside from their relation as former teammates in the 2016 Cowboys quarterback room, the similarities don’t end there for Romo and Prescott. They will have lockers waiting for them in the Cowboys facilities this season. Yes, you heard right. The Cowboys will not re-assign Romo’s locker or No. 9 jersey to any player this season.
This is insurance in the event that Prescott gets hurt and Romo could theoretically leave the CBS booth with Jim Nantz to be the Cowboys signal caller once again. Not issuing out Romo’s No. 9 jersey is understandable, given that he’s a ring of honor player for the Cowboys organization. However, giving him the proverbial Thurman Munson treatment with his forever Cowboys locker is not a good idea.
Should Prescott struggle in his sophomore NFL season, you have to believe that some players on the 2017 Cowboys will look to Romo’s empty locker for answers that aren’t coming. Romo had his last two NFL seasons cut short by injuries. If Dallas loses Prescott for any extended stretch, making the NFC Playoffs probably isn’t in the cards for the Cowboys. The NFC East is a competitive division top to bottom.
It doesn’t help that Cowboys quarterback coach Wade Wilson thinks “it’s fun to speculate about that, if Dak were to go down in Week Two, would Tony come back?” All that does is add a level of false hope to the idea Romo will magically save the Cowboys should Prescott get hurt.
Thinking about these hypotheticals is pragmatic for any professional sports franchise, but openly talking about the possibility with the media just doesn’t look good. We don’t see New England Patriots staffers openly pondering the Tom Brady/Jimmy Garoppolo dilemma in Foxborough.
By having his former locker just waiting for him at AT&T Stadium, all that does in perpetuate Romo not being all-in on being the No. 1 color commentator for CBS. Nantz is excellent at what he does, but he shouldn’t be expected to bail out Romo in the booth if the former Cowboys quarterback is still craving a shot at playing for Dallas.
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For a team that went 13-3 without him and failed to win a playoff game as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, Dallas needs to focus more on getting to the 2017 NFC Championship than making sure that Romo feels welcomed should he feel compelled to theoretically rejoin the Cowboys mid-season.