Report: Cowboys have yet to begin extension talks with Tony Romo

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo played in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

The Cowboys' desire to extend quarterback Tony Romo's contract and make him "a key piece" going forward have yet to begin, a source said in a report by ESPN Dallas' Calvin Watkins.

A report last week said the Cowboys were hoping to extend Romo soon.

Romo and the Cowboys agreed to suspend contract extension discussions during the 2012 season to avoid any distractions. As of now, Romo will begin the last year of his contract earning a base salary of $11.5 million, including a team-high $16.8 million. It has been speculated that the 32-year-old undrafted free agent could expect an extension in the neighorhood of $12 million to $14 million per season.

In a National Football Post report Friday, former agent Joel Corry said Romo maintains "a tremendous amount of leverage" in future contract talks with the Cowboys including an expected attempt by Creative Artists Agency to boost Romo's value along with client Matthew Stafford's extension.

“CAA did the same thing in 2007 with Condon client Marc Bulger’s six-year, $65.5 million (with $23.55 million guaranteed) contract extension that was signed a couple months before Romo received his six-year, $67.5 million (with $28.5 million guaranteed) contract extension,” Corry wrote. “Romo’s new deal should eclipse the four-year, $62 million contract extension Matt Schaub signed with the Houston Texans right before the start of the 2012 regular season unless Romo directs his agent to take a home team discount, so the Cowboys will have a better chance at retaining key free agents, such as Anthony Spencer.”

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones and head coach Jason Garrett both said Romo is a big piece of the franchise's future last week.

"Tony is a key piece of what we're about going forward," Jones said. "We're certainly going to be looking at his situation (in) time. "We've historically (extended contracts) with quarterbacks for the Dallas Cowboys ahead of time. We did it with Troy (Aikman) and we certainly want to look at that with Tony so we can all move forward in terms of how we want to play around our salary cap with our team. Tony is the key piece in terms of how your cap is represented."