The Dallas Cowboys sure are taking their sweet time making a decision on Tony Romo. Everyone was led to believe they informed him he would be released just a few days ahead of free agency, only later the Cowboys made a big push to try and trade Romo before free agency kicked off.
One problem: there aren’t many suitors left for Romo, with the Broncos and Texans looming as the only real viable candidates. Denver doesn’t want to trade and the Texans already gave up a second-round pick to rid themselves of Brock Osweiler. That seemed to open up the door for Romo to come to town, but nothing has happened.
Which is odd, because the Texans could beat Denver -- or any other darkhorse team -- to the punch if they were willing to give up a pick to get Romo.
Maybe there’s another holdup though. What if, as floated by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio over the weekend, the reason that Romo hasn’t either been released or been traded to the Texans is if Jerry Jones can’t handle the idea of Romo playing for another team in Texas?
It’s kind of a wild theory but, well, not really. If Romo plays for the Texans, there is a decent chance that the Houston-based football team becomes almost as popular as the Dallas-based football team. Jerry doesn’t own the team in Houston.
So spin it forward. Romo exits Dallas and lands in Houston. And then every outlet in Dallas assigns at least one reporter to cover Romo’s year(s) in Houston, forcing America’s Team to share eyeballs and ears in its own hometown with the other team from Texas.
Spin it even farther forward. The Texans surge with a healthy Romo, becoming one of the best teams in the AFC. The Cowboys, defense drained by free agency and offense undermined by possible sophomore slumps of Dak Prescott and/or Ezekiel Elliott, regress to the mean. Cowboys fans would be tempted to set aside their silver and blue for the balance of the year and become temporary fans of Romo and the Texans.
That wouldn’t be good for business. And Jerry Jones is all about making good business decisions.
If Romo leaves for Houston, there will be HEAVY coverage from every major media outlet. NFL Network and ESPN will both assign reporters dedicated to coverage in Houston; the same thing basically happened when Peyton Manning linked up with the Broncos in a very similar set of circumstances.
Oddly enough, it would be Denver that could save Jones’ bacon in this particular situation. If Jerry is able to patch together some kind of deal that will get Denver to take Romo with his current salary, he could keep Romo from playing in Houston.
We already know that Jones wants to keep Romo from playing in certain places (a.k.a., the Redskins) by claiming the “do-right rule” so why wouldn’t he feel similar about another team in Texas?
That might not be what Romo wants, though, because he’s got a family now that lives in Dallas. Houston is ideal for him from the perspective of him being able to play football and stay within very close range of his wife and kids (and them not having to move to Denver for the next two years).
But Houston might not be ideal for Jerry Jones, because that would mean people talking about a Texas football team other than the Cowboys. And that’s when we’ll really find out whether or not Jerry Jones wants to do right by Tony Romo.
