Remember the "Sign Pudge" campaign that hit the DFW metroplex several years ago when the Rangers were winning games and fans wanted them to keep their catcher? Well he was the big fish that got away and went on to win a World Series with the Florida Marlins. What's to say Tony Romo won't do the same when his contract expires at the end of this season?
"Sign Romo" signs started making their appearance at Texas Stadium yesterday and the more accomplished Romo becomes each week, the more pressure Jerry Jones is facing to sign Romo to a long term deal.
A quarter through the NFL season, Romo leads all NFC quarterbacks in passer rating, average gain and touchdowns. Tom Brady is the only quarterback in the NFL who leads Romo in passer rating and average gain, but Romo is the league leader when it comes to the 11 touchdowns so far.
Jones clearly knows Romo's value to this team and its perfect start and was calm in the locker room after Dallas' win over the Rams on Sunday, saying the dynamics are in place to secure Romo's future as the long term quarterback for this franchise.
Jerry's admission his off-season moves have been centered around having Romo as his long term quarterback is enough to know that he won't let Romo slip away into free agency. If he doesn't seem to be so concerned that every day of continued Romo success is driving up the dollars on the contract, why should you be?
Romo continues to maintain that this is the place he wants to be and that money won't be the determining factor, but rest assured, if Romo rolls through the season and takes the Cowboys to the Super Bowl he'll have teams willing to pay him Peyton Manning money-14.2 million dollars a year, especially if he wins the MVP.
Even though Romo said yesterday, he wouldn't know what to do with more than 2 or 3 million, his agent does. Tom Condon is part of Creative Artist Agency in Kansas City, which represents both Mannings, got 10 million a year for Mark Bulger and 60 million dollars over eight seasons for LaDainian Tomlinson.
If Jones wants a few more games to see if Romo is really worth the 10-to-15 million dollar a season investment, don't fault him. He said he is "very sensitive about getting something long term done with Tony, and we'll get something done."
He's done it with Aikman, Smith and Sanders before, and if he's willing to sink 675 million dollars of his own cash into the one-billion dollar new Cowboys stadium, why question him now?
Comments (2)
Well put.
I think Jerry learned a valuable lesson about getting value for your money a few years back. When he neglected to properly shop around and carry out his due diligence, he wound up with a crappy plastic surgeon and an overly taut face.
It took 2 or 3 years for him to recover from that hasty decision.
Let the man wait until he's sure that locking in Romo to a long term deal is the right move. As you said, money is a secondary concern.
And we should all take a moment to recall what Tina has taught us: Cowboys fans are schizophrenic drama queens that should all be on lithium. Once the inevitable first loss happens, everyone will be screaming for a square-one rebuild on the entire franchise. As soon as Tony Romo throws a 4th quarter interception in a losing game... The love affair will be over. Again.
Posted by Tina Yothers | October 1, 2007 8:10 PM
Posted on October 1, 2007 20:10
Tony Romo is my hero.
Didn't he say himself before the season started that he didn't want to think about money until he had time? I think that proves that Tony Romo deserves even the $1,000,000 Jerry Jones has left between the sofa cushions.
Romo has been likened to Brett Farve + Tom Brady + Dan Marino + Steve Young + Joe Montana + Steve McNair + Vincent Young + Michael Vick. Okay, maybe minus the dog fighting. If you add together all their salaries you might come up with what Tony Romo should get paid.
Tony Romo was quoted as saying he didn't know how to spend more than 2-3 million dollars. What I think he meant to say was, "I've got a decent enough girlfriend, that it really doesn't matter what you guys pay me. I win."
I think he's right, but maybe that's because I've been mistaken for Tony Romo before. It does, however, cost a lot of money to keep Carrie Underwood happy.
By the way, I love the new playbook blog. Finally the best sports team in Dallas has a creative outlet. I might even consider changing my name to Cromoner if you ask him about Carrie Underwood.
Posted by Tony Romoner | October 3, 2007 12:38 AM
Posted on October 3, 2007 00:38