Jerry Jones talks Manziel, says to give him an F for backup QB situation
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says that 35-year-old QB Tony Romo can still play at a high level for four or five more years -- but the team still needs to groom a replacement.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
3 min read
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says that 35-year-old quarterback Tony Romo, all but done for the season after breaking his collarbone for the second time in two months, can still play at a high level for four or five more years.
It's an ambitious pronouncement given Romo's age and injury history but Jones doesn't have much choice. The backup options -- both past and current -- don't instill a ton of confidence. That goes a long way in explaining Jones' thinking. Aand to his credit, he didn't try to shirk blame for the current predicament -- one that included starting Brandon Weeden and then Matt Cassel -- and has a lot to do with the Cowboys' 3-8 record.
Jones concedes that Weeden "didn't work out for us," just in case that wasn't obvious when the Cowboys cut him last month.
"Consequently, I think we have made a D, if you want to give it that, make it an F, relative to how we have approached this situation if Romo should get hurt," Jones said Tuesday on CBS Sports Radio's 105.3 The Fan. "We should be building for the future as well as have an operable quarterback behind our starter, Romo. And that's where we're going to try and get to."
Which means that the Cowboys need to think about grooming Romo's replacement, whether that's in five years or five months -- though Jones won't commit to using a first-round pick in the hopes of finding that player.
"Well, I don't know about first round, necessarily, at all," he said. "But it's certainly not that we, again, I go back to Weeden. Weeden was an opportunity to develop the future. ... There's a first-round pick. Half of the first-round picks that are made, don't work. That's not negative, they just don't work, so we have to keep that in mind.
"There's no doubt that we will be, as we move forward, continuing to try to get a situation where if Romo should get hurt, then we got a guy that can step in and carry us for some games, hopefully -- that's a backup description I'm dealing with there -- or at the same time, be developing for the future. That's what we're looking for."
The last time the Cowboys drafted a quarterback? Stephen McGee was a fourth-round pick back in 2009. He lasted three seasons in Dallas and made one start (three appearances).
That brings us to the 2014 draft, when Jones didn't hide the fact that he thought long and hard about taking Johnny Manziel with the No. 16 pick. And if not for his son, Stephen, it very well could have happened.
"Do you remember two years ago when we sat there right to the last second on the clock with Manziel? My whole point is, there you are," Jones explained. "That was the whole purpose of doing that. At that particular time, for a first-round pick, I thought that Romo had more time. And if we sat there and worked with Manziel for four or five years, now we all know what's happened. We know the off-the-field issues. But on our board, one of our top five or six picks dropped down to us and it was at the quarterback position, and I absolutely was a vote of one in that room to basically go there. And I understood why.
"I understood the risk that was involved. And we got a great player instead (offensive lineman Zack Martin). But those are the circumstances that come up when you're thinking for the future. I was at that particular time, debating the value of him for the future as well as debating a backup."
The good news is that it can still happen; Manziel appears to be on the outs in Cleveland and it would shock no one if Jones decided to bring the former Texas A&M star back to the Lone Star State. In the meantime, the last-in-the-division Cowboys are keeping their options open this season; Romo won't go on injured reserve just in case they make the playoffs.
