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Jon Kitna donating first week's paycheck from Cowboys to high school where he coaches

Jon Kitna is back on the sidelines, should the Cowboys need him. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images) Tony Romo may or may not be done for the season after
Doug Farrar|
Jon Kitna donating first week's paycheck from Cowboys to high school where he coaches
Jon Kitna donating first week's paycheck from Cowboys to high school where he coaches

Jon Kitna is back on the sidelines, should the Cowboys need him. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Tony Romo may or may not be done for the season after suffering a back injury against the Washington Redskins last Sunday, but the Dallas Cowboys knew one thing was certain -- they needed a second quarterback for practice while Romo underwent treatment and Kyle Orton took first-team reps in preparation. So, after trying out several quarterbacks, the Cowboys signed 41-year-old Jon Kitna, who last took NFL snaps for Dallas in 2011.

Since he retired, Kitna has been teaching math and coaching football at Lincoln High in Tacoma, Wash. But we're assuming that the school won't mind the extended holiday vacation Kitna will have to take, especially if the Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday night and win the NFC East. Kitna plans to donate his entire first-week salary -- $53,000 -- to the school. Kitna revealed the plan on Christmas Day, after the team's practice, per the Dallas Morning News.

The Cowboys signed Kitna, whose son Jordan plays quarterback for Lincoln's team, without a tryout.

“He said he would run scout team for the high school team and give them a really good look, like he gave us great looks when he was here,” head coach Jason Garrett told the Dallas Morning News. “So he’s a very active guy. He’s a mentally tough guy. ... And he’s certainly very young at heart. So it was good to have him back, good to have him back in the meetings, and [I’m] excited to see him practice today.”

Kitna texted Garrett after hearing of Romo's injury, the two men talked, and the agreement came soon after.

“I told Jason if he wants me or somebody to come in and call a play and be able to pull a play off if a bad situation happened, I would be willing to do that,” Kitna said.

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Doug Farrar
DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009,  Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine.  He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.

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