Dallas Cowboys Rumors: New Trade Options For Tony Romo Next Season — How Much Would The Cowboys Pay To Keep Him?

After Tony Romo suffered yet another injury in 2016, many wondered if his time with the Dallas Cowboys had pretty much come to an end. Upon quarterback Dak Prescott going out and tearing things up in his rookie season, Romo’s fate was essentially sealed, and now, it is just a matter of getting the trade or release done. There are some options out there and a number of NFL teams would welcome the veteran in, but how much would it cost the Cowboys to keep him?

Romo is 36-years-old and has had a number of serious injuries over the last five years. He has only played in four games in the last two seasons, but he still has something to offer. No, he won’t be able to get a new contract near anything like what he has now, but someone may be willing to pay him what he is already owed.

When he’s healthy, he is a great quarterback and a natural leader. That is something that a large number of teams around the league need right now. Some of them are dealing with injuries of their own or are simply trying to figure out why their quarterback options didn’t quite work out like Dak Prescott did for Dallas.

If Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys were feeling sentimental and wanting to keep Romo around, they could very well do that. Of course, that isn’t a smart idea at all since he’s not going to beat out Prescott for the starting job and they would have to shell out a lot of money to have him stand on the sideline.

According to Cowboys Wire, Dallas is set to pay Tony Romo a base salary of $14 million in 2017 and he also has a prorated signing bonus allocation of $10.7 million. That’s an incredibly large salary cap hit of $24.7 million for a guy to stay with the team and not play at all or risk further injury.

If the Cowboys were to release Romo, his base salary would be taken off of the cap and it would also help save them money in the long run with his signing bonus. Yes, it’s possible that they release him and sign him to a smaller contract, but he doesn’t want to sit by and do nothing. Romo wants to play and there will be at least a handful or teams that want him.

One of those teams could be the Minnesota Vikings, who just recently learned that Teddy Bridgewater is likely gone for the entire 2017 season after knee surgery. According to Bleacher Report, doctors told him that he will need at least 19 months to fully recover and even attempt to get back on the field.

Minnesota does have Sam Bradford, who the Vikes traded for and who took Bridgewater’s spot last year. The veteran quarterback had a decent season, but he only led the Vikings to an 8-8 record and another year out of the playoffs.

Many NFL experts keep saying that the Denver Broncos need to take a long look at bringing in a veteran quarterback to compete with Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. A lot of people thought Romo would be an obvious option, but Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Broncos really are “not all that interested” in the former Cowboys starter.

The San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, and Houston Texans all need help at quarterback and need someone to come in and shake things up. All three of those teams do not have the answer on their roster right now and Romo would bring in immediate results, but again, it will cost them to make the trade.

As far back as November, ESPN, by way of Niners Nation, reported that the 49ers were one of the teams who had high interest in Tony Romo. Colin Kaepernick showed flashes of his old self throughout last season, but not enough to make the Niners a good team.

Right now, the Dallas Cowboys have a lot of thinking to do and plenty of phone calls to make to other teams around the NFL. The Minnesota Vikings could look at making a trade for Tony Romo with Teddy Bridgewater out. In Denver, the Broncos certainly could use some veteran leadership for their young signal-callers. There are a lot of options to weigh, but holding onto Romo and paying him $14 million to hold a clipboard next season should not be one of them.

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