Tony Romo says he would have taken pay cut to keep DeMarco Murray
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo says he would have restructured his contract to keep All-Pro running back DeMarco Murray with the team.
The Cowboys offered Murray a four-year, $24 million offer at the end of the season, but Murray eventually signed a five-year, $42 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.
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Murray was named the NFL’s offensive player of the year after rushing for a franchise-record 1,845 yards. He also had a 57 catches for 416 yards and tied for the league lead in rushing touchdowns with 13.
“DeMarco ended up asking me, ‘Why don’t you take a pay cut?’ I said, ‘I will. I would take a pay cut to go do this,’” Romo told 105.3 The Fan. “I was like, ‘They’re going to restructure me.’ That’s the same thing in some ways, just for the salary cap purposes. He was like, ‘OK, now we’re back to being friends, again.’ I would take $5 million less if meant getting him back.”
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Romo, 34, is scheduled to make $17 million next season as part of a six-year, $108 million contract signed in 2013, and he will count $27.8 million toward the salary cap in 2015. But the QB says that he was more than willing to trim his salary so that the league’s leading rusher could continue playing with the Cowboys.
“He knew that. It was just funny how he was literally worried about that part of it for a week. I’m like, ‘That’s not the reason.’ I’m like, ‘Obviously I’ll restructure,'” Romo said. “I would even take a pay cut. He was like, ‘OK, we can be friends again.’ It’s amazing what you think about in those moments.”
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