Each NFL offseason brings us a new NFL quarterback claiming they'll play until they're 40. This year it's a surprising name: Tony Romo.

The Cowboys quarterback, who turned 36 in April and hasn't played a full season since 2012, believes he's got four or five more years left in him.

Romo missed 12 games in 2016 because he broke his collarbone twice. He first broke the collarbone in Week 2 against the Eagles, sat out until just before Thanksgiving, came back to help beat the Dolphins and then got knocked back out for the year by the Panthers on Thanksgiving day. Surgery on the collarbone in March kept him out of activities until May.

Tony Romo is optimistic about how much longer he can play in the NFL. USATSI

"I'm not in my mid-20s anymore, but I do think based on what my situation has been like the last three or four years, I do think this [offseason] is drastically different," Romo said.

The confidence for Romo -- who has played in 16 games four times and less than 16 games five times since becoming a full-time starter in 2007 -- is based on feeling better about a different injury.

Romo has a surgically repaired back that he says is feeling substantially better than it did previously.

"The further removed I am from surgery -- and now it's been quite a while -- I can go a lot longer periods of time doing what I could do before," Romo said. "But for shorter periods of time before, it would just get heavy or I'd need a break or rest."

Life should be easier for Romo in 2016 thanks to the addition of Ezekiel Elliott in the draft (not just because of his running skills, but his pass protection). And a healthy Romo throwing to a healthy Dez Bryant makes the Cowboys legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

But Dallas was desperately trying to land a quarterback on the first day of the draft, too. That's not the sort of action from a team expecting its quarterback to play for another half decade. It's what you see from a team with a quarterback who can't stay healthy for a whole season most years.