Skip to main content

Jerry Jones: 'My intention' is for Tony Romo to return to Cowboys in 2017

Jerry Jones wants Tony Romo to return to the Cowboys in 2017.
  • Author:
  • Publish date:

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says that even though he wants quarterback Tony Romo back with the team next season, that Romo will never accept the role as a backup.

Romo sustained a compression fracture in his back during the preseason and has not played this season. In Romo's absence, rookie quarterback Dak Prescott has led the team to wins in 11 of their 12 games. 

Prescott, a fourth-round pick in this year's draft, has completed 68% of his passes with 19 touchdowns and two interceptions this season. Despite Prescott's rise to stardom, Jones isn't giving up on his veteran quarterback, saying it is "my intention" to have Romo back with the team in 2017.

"I think if I ask Tony to go with us on that and let's try to win a championship, I think, yes, he will," Jones said to the New York Daily News.

"I think Romo is going to get his opportunity," Jones added. "I don't want it to happen. But I think he may get his opportunity to get us a Super Bowl. While that's a mixed bag when I think about it — that means you don't have Dak out there — but it means, what a story, one for the ages, if he'd step in there and this year help us win a Super Bowl on the field with his skill. That can happen here. We're not talking about a bus driver out there. We're talking about a guy who can go out there and move our team."

If Romo is on the team's roster next season, Jones said that he will compete but won't accept the backup role.

"He will never accept it," Jones said. "But do I think it is possible that he could be in Dallas and it's good for him and good for us and be the smart thing to do? How many times have we ever seen one drawn up where you see that kind of depth at the quarterback position? How many times do you have to be reminded if we had the concussion protocol the way we had it today, Troy Aikman wouldn't have played in the second Super Bowl."

Romo, 36, has a base salary of $8.5 million this season and at least $54 million left on the contract he signed in 2013. Prescott is making $450,000 in base salary this season and will make $540,000 in 2017.

"Because of where we are, we can afford it," Jones said.

Dallas, who have already clinched a playoff spot, will win the NFC East with a victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.

– Scooby Axson