Jerry Jones: I paid Romo $100 million, so I want everything

[boozeman]

Jerry Jones: I paid Romo $100 million, so I want everything

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 25, 2013, 4:09 PM EDT

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made quarterback Tony Romo one of the highest-paid players in NFL history this offseason, and he also said publicly that he wants to see Romo spend more time in the facility and get more involved in the offense. That raises a question: If there were any issues with Romo’s commitment, why give him that kind of contract?

But Jones says it’s not about questioning Romo’s commitment. Instead, Jones told Albert Breer on NFL Network that he simply meant that if he’s going to pay someone the kind of money he’s paying Romo, he wants to be certain that player is giving everything he can possibly give to the team.

“When you give somebody $100 million, you’d like to get every ounce of anything they can bring to the table to win a football game,” Jones said.

Jones said he believes Romo is a great offensive mind who can add a lot to game planning sessions.

“He’s outstanding on offensive concepts and he’s got a vantage point that very few people have,” Jones said of Romo. “So anything that he can bring from the concept to the field has got to make us a better football team. I think it will.”

Romo has led the Cowboys to an 8-8 record in two straight seasons, but Jones says that doesn’t mean Romo is mediocre.

“We’ve been disappointed the last two years,” Jones said. “Nobody more so than him. We’re going to take what we’ve got with Romo’s great experience, ability, decision making, all of those things and we’re going to try to win more ballgames.”

Romo will have to help the Cowboys win a lot more ballgames to justify that contract.

 

[1bigfan13]

I read this yesterday and laughed.

I love how this rube demands more from everyone else but refuses to acknowledge that he and his boy, Jethro Bodine, have done more to hurt this team than Garrett and Romo combined.

Until the hillbillies decide to step aside they'll get more 8-8 and like it.

 

[Cotton]

I read this yesterday and laughed.

I love how this rube demands more from everyone else but refuses to acknowledge that he and his boy, Jethro Bodine, have done more to hurt this team than Garrett and Romo combined.

Until the hillbillies decide to step aside they'll get more 8-8 and like it.

Unfortunately, this statement is the thread-ender on 90% of the threads about this team.

 

[Genghis Khan]

This is unreal stupidity. First of all, it's stupid to look at this stuff in dollars and cents. Second of all, it's not as if Jerry is giving Romo 100 hundred million out of the goodness of his heart. Romo would've gotten that on the open market. Third of all, I firmly believe the reports that this extra responsibility, whatever it entails came from Romo, yet Jerry keeps on insisting he called for it. Lastly, the HC is strongly downplaying this (probably because it makes him look bad), but Jerry insists on contradicting the HC and consequently risks undermining him.

Jerry really should be shutting up about this. It makes his QB look bad on one end, or on the other end his HC look bad. But he just.can't.help.himself.

Frigging idiot.

 

[L.T. Fan]

If I put out big bucks for something I expect big returns. Who wouldn't' ?

 

[Cujo]

“When you give somebody $100 million, you’d like to get every ounce of anything they can bring to the table to win a football game,” Jones said.

This seems to imply, to me, that he hasn't gotten 'every ounce' out of Romo in the past. And on that point, I would disagree. They have leaned very heavily on him to mask coaching deficiencies near the ends of games. But why would you give someone a contract like that if you had any reservations about the guy giving you 100%? I agree that he should just shut the fuck up. Nothing he says makes any sense and just brings to mind more questions than answers.

 

[VA Cowboy]

Love how the fool went all out putting all his eggs in a proven losers' basket. Romo is what he is and that's someone who can't carry a team or be consistent enough not to be a detriment in clutch games. Instead of treating this like a stop gap situation until we find a quality replacement, Jerry makes this "one wildcard winning" QB one of the top paid players in the league. 3-4 years from now we still won't be any closer to the SB and Romo will a washed up one wildcard winning QB.

 

[L.T. Fan]

Love how the fool went all out putting all his eggs in a proven losers' basket. Romo is what he is and that's someone who can't carry a team or be consistent enough not to be a detriment in clutch games. Instead of treating this like a stop gap situation until we find a quality replacement, Jerry makes this "one wildcard winning" QB one of the top paid players in the league. 3-4 years from now we still won't be any closer to the SB and Romo will a washed up one wildcard winning QB.

Need some water in that half empty glass VA?

 

[Clay_Allison]

Love how the fool went all out putting all his eggs in a proven losers' basket. Romo is what he is and that's someone who can't carry a team or be consistent enough not to be a detriment in clutch games. Instead of treating this like a stop gap situation until we find a quality replacement, Jerry makes this "one wildcard winning" QB one of the top paid players in the league. 3-4 years from now we still won't be any closer to the SB and Romo will a washed up one wildcard winning QB.

This is what I don't get.

Do you really think if Jones had let Romo walk he would have gotten less money on the open market?

 

[BipolarFuk]

Jerry Jones: I paid Romo $100 million, so I want everything

 

[Genghis Khan]

If I put out big bucks for something I expect big returns. Who wouldn't' ?

That's not how it works in the NFL.

You pay for talent, not hours on the clock. If Romo won the Super Bowl while putting in almost no preparation at all, would anyone, including Jerry, care? Of course not.

Name one other owner who gave his QB a similar contract but then said that he needs to spend more time on preparation. Maybe I missed it.

You want big returns? Romo helps them win more than they would without him. That increases ticket sales and merchandise sales.

But really, what the statement comes down to is the fact that a QB's dedication should not be tied to money. Your QB should be putting in a 100% whether he is making 100 million or the minimum. This isn't the business world. If Romo wasn't already giving "every ounce" (which is Jerry's implication, and also something that I don't believe), there's a big problem. The position inherently demands nothing less - the money is a separate issue.

So Jerry is an ass for tying the two together.

What is the next QB supposed to say, once Romo is gone? He's allowed to put in less than 100%, he can clock out after an 8 hour day, because he's not getting 100 million dollars yet? It's a dumb correlation for Jerry to draw. The position demands the dedication, not the salary.

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, I don't think it's true that Romo is currently giving less than 100%.

I mean, he may not be Peyton Manning-level involved in running the offense, but that isn't because he's not giving 100%, it's that not every QB has the ability to be a coach on the field like Manning is.

I think Jerry is trying to conjure up an image of Romo taking over a Manning-level role here in our offense both to justify the check he just wrote to a guy who has 1 playoff win total, and to take some of the heat off his head coach from a (misguidedly) agitated fan base, but it doesn't make any sense for him to do so. He's causing more questions than he's answering.

Just another example of Jerry not knowing what he's doing.

Just come out and say it -- "Romo is a QB who has the talent to do what Joe Flacco just did twice over if we get him a similar mix to what Flacco has, and we think we have that now." Of course, Jerry would be wrong, cause his team is not on the same level as the Baltimore Ravens, but that's the going rate for a QB of that caliber right now. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[L.T. Fan]

That's not how it works in the NFL.

You pay for talent, not hours on the clock. If Romo won the Super Bowl while putting in almost no preparation at all, would anyone, including Jerry, care? Of course not.

Name one other owner who gave his QB a similar contract but then said that he needs to spend more time on preparation. Maybe I missed it.

You want big returns? Romo helps them win more than they would without him. That increases ticket sales and merchandise sales.

But really, what the statement comes down to is the fact that a QB's dedication should not be tied to money. Your QB should be putting in a 100% whether he is making 100 million or the minimum. This isn't the business world. If Romo wasn't already giving "every ounce" (which is Jerry's implication, and also something that I don't believe), there's a big problem. The position inherently demands nothing less - the money is a separate issue.

So Jerry is an ass for tying the two together.

What is the next QB supposed to say, once Romo is gone? He's allowed to put in less than 100%, he can clock out after an 8 hour day, because he's not getting 100 million dollars yet? It's a dumb correlation for Jerry to draw. The position demands the dedication, not the salary.

Who says Romo hasn't been putting out 100%. All I hear from Jones is that when he puts out big bucks that is the expectsation. As you know a lot of the former contracts given out by Jones has yielded some goldbricking performances.

 

[Clay_Allison]

We all know Romo goes all-out when he's on the field, and he made the team in the first place because he goes all out to make plays in practice.

Romo's commitment has never been this team's problem, our inability to run the ball or at least develop a good possession passing game and reliance on Romo leading the world in high-risk pass attempts has been a big problem.

 

[Plan9Misfit]

Timeless.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Who says Romo hasn't been putting out 100%. All I hear from Jones is that when he puts out big bucks that is the expectsation. As you know a lot of the former contracts given out by Jones has yielded some goldbricking performances.

When Jerry says that he expects this from Romo now that he has the big contract, he is implying that he hasn't gotten it in the past.

True about other players not performing to their contracts, but what Jerry is talking about is not performance, it is preparation time. Those are usually correlated, but not the same thing.

 

[asklesko]

Maybe he should stop playing golf, focus on his football studies.

 

[Smitty]

Maybe he should stop playing golf, focus on his football studies.

I don't think that has much to do with it. It's bringing out his competitor spirit and honing a physical skill. I would encourage that type of extra-curricular sporting activity. Better than vacationing in Cabo during a bye week.

 

[Clay_Allison]

Maybe he should stop playing golf, focus on his football studies.

I think if Romo didn't have the outlet and the ability to work on something outside of football he'd start pressing and get the yips. People who worry about a guy's reaction to pressure shouldn't want to take away a useful coping mechanism.

 

[L.T. Fan]

When Jerry says that he expects this from Romo now that he has the big contract, he is implying that he hasn't gotten it in the past.

True about other players not performing to their contracts, but what Jerry is talking about is not performance, it is preparation time. Those are usually correlated, but not the same thing.

That's conjecture. I can't get in Jones head but I know he has' t even hinted that Romo has been soft pedaling in the past. If I missed it by all means point it out to me.