Season-ending back surgery has done nothing to change the confidence the Cowboys have in Tony Romo.
Two days before the NFL Draft, both owner/GM Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett threw bouquets at their recovering quarterback.
“We feel like Tony is really essentially in the prime of his career,” Garrett told the Dallas Morning News.
“He’s 34 years old. He didn’t start until I think Year 4, so he’s been a guy who has played six or seven years now as a starting quarterback. To me, he’s a very young player. He moves around really well. He hasn’t lost any mobility, ability to get away from people.”
The knock on Romo is his inconsistency in the big moments. He has earned one playoff win in nine years as a starter. The Cowboys have lost a winner-take-all finale for the NFC East the past three seasons. Romo missed Week 17 in 2013 after he suffered a herniated disk in a Week 16 win over the Redskins that required surgery. It was Romo’s second back surgery in less than a year, but he is expected to be ready for organized team activities later this month.
“That’s the strength of our team, position-wise. Tony, Kyle Orton and then [Brandon] Weeden — we like him as a development project,” Jones said in his pre-draft press conference on Tuesday, according to Pro Football Talk.
“We feel good about Tony’s health. His back is everything we would want it to be at this time. So we feel very strong about the edge that our quarterbacking gives us.”
Among the many draft rumors in recent weeks was the Cowboys potentially moving up in the first round to select Johnny Manziel. These comments could be seen as a way of dispelling those reports or a smokescreen to hide actual interest in Manziel or one of the other top quarterbacks who will be picked in Thursday’s opening round.
“I think his arm is better than ever, so we don’t look at him despite his back situation that he’s had over the last couple of years as somebody who is an old player by any means,” Garrett said.
“He simply needs to rehab his back and get himself healthy and get going again. We feel like Tony Romo has a lot of years of great football left in him.”