Things we learned about the Cowboys from the NFL owners meetings

midswat

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By SportsDayDFW.com Contact SportsDayDFW.com on Twitter:mad:SportsDayDFW

Jerry Jones and the NFL's other 31 owners convened recently in Phoenix for their annual meetings. Here are a few things we learned (or might have learned, or don't really know) about the Cowboys from March 26-29.

No timetable for a Romo resolution

Cowboys OTAs start April 17 and the draft is April 27-29. The team's mandatory minicamp is in mid-June, and training camp starts in July. But Jerry Jones maintains there is no timetable for resolving the Tony Romo situation.

"There's no waiting game,'' Jones said. "This is the offseason. We're not missing doing anything. From the standpoint of the franchise and the Cowboys, nothing is being held up here at all. We don't have anything imminent that's pushing us."

Moments later, Jones indicated to a national reporter that Romo's status needs to be resolved before training camp.

No bad blood between Jerry and Tony

Jerry Jones has always had great affection for Romo.

You may remember the Cowboys even tailored their offense to be Romo friendly at one point.

And Jones says his relationship with the soon-to-be 37-year-old quarterback is just fine, thank you. "We're on great terms,'' Jones said. "But I certainly don't want to represent anything as to how he feels. But I feel good about how we're doing, we being the Cowboys, me and Tony. I feel very good about it."

What about that do-right rule Jones famously announced during the scouting combine in Indianapolis last month. Are the Cowboys living up to it regarding Romo?

"Absolutely, yes, absolutely," Jones said. "I'm completely satisfied with how he's doing and I have no reason to believe he's not satisfied with how I'm doing."


No doubt Romo can still play and be effective


Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett does not know for sure whether Tony Romo wants to continue his career, but Garrett does know a healthy No. 9 is still more than capable.

"Tony's been a great football player in this league for a long time," Garrett said. "He's been a great football player for our organization. He can play the game at a high level. He played one series this past year for us and was very productive like he has been throughout his career.

"Durability has been an issue the last couple years. So nobody really knows how he can handle the course of a 16-game season, but that's true for everybody. "


No ship has sailed

Is the Tony Romo era over in Dallas? Is there any way he could return to America's Team in 2017?

"No ship has sailed," Jones said. "No ship has sailed. It's just like it was when the season was over. There is no ship that has sailed as far as I'm aware of regarding his multiple opportunities."

So, just to clarify Jerry ... no ship has sailed, right?


Rock and a hard place?

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, who found a team loaded with cap space (Cleveland) willing to take on the ridiculous salary of failed QB Brock Osweiler salary via a trade (the Browns also received a second-round pick), understands why Jones is trying to salvage something from the Romo situation.

"He saw the trade we made," McNair told USA TODAY Sports. "(Jones) wants to make a trade. I understand that. But he's between a rock and a hard place with that."


No comment, sort of

Comments were hard to come by from the Cowboys' brass regarding the incident in which running back Ezekiel Elliott pulling down a woman's top and exposing her breast during a St. Patrick's Day parade.

"There is not much that I want to say other than that was unfortunate and not good,'' Jones said. "It wouldn't be the right emphasis one way or the other to get into any communications or dialogue since that happened.''

Pressed on whether there has been dialogue, Jones responded, "Again, that wouldn't be the right emphasis to imply.

"I wouldn't want to say on communication, but I'm aware of the incident and I'm aware of the criticism.''


Coordinated signings

Dallas extended the contracts of offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia this week.

Linehan and Marinelli would've been entering the final seasons of their deals in the 2017 season.
Linehan is entering his fourth season with the Cowboys and Marinelli and Bisaccia their fifth seasons.


Witten's new contract gives the Cowboys cap room

Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, 35, signed a four-year contract through 2021 that is worth almost $30 million but doesn't include any guaranteed money.

Witten's new deal will help give the Cowboys some cap flexibility. The Cowboys were about $200,000 under the salary cap before Witten agreed to his new deal. This extension will allow the club to reduce his base salary and carve out a much-needed $4 million in cap space.

Stephen Jones said from the NFL owners meetings in Arizona that the Cowboys would "more than likely" use that flexibility.


Broncos, Texans coaches mum on Romo

Houston and Denver have been the teams most talked about when it comes to possible landing spots for Tony Romo. But Houston head coach Bill O'Brien and Denver's Vance Joseph deflected questions at the annual meetings.

O'Brien: "First of all, I'm not involved. I'm a coach. I don't have any trade discussions with anybody. He's under contract with the Cowboys and that's really all I can say about that. I'm not going to get into speculation of if whether he's released. Look, first of all, on the two guys that are coming back, I said it the other day and I'll say it again, we're excited about those guys."

Joseph: "For us he's a non-issue. We haven't had one meeting about Romo. We've got these two young guys that we're focused on right now and absolutely moving forward in the draft or free agency. We have to acquire one more quarterback because of the reps that will be taken in the spring and the fall. But as far as Romo, that's a non-issue for us."


Elliott still cleared for takeoff

NFL owners passed a number of new rules during the meetings, but one proposed change that did not pass was an idea to eliminate hurdling defenders.

As all Cowboys fans -- and several embarrassed NFL defenders -- know, Elliott loves to take to the air (he was a hurdles champion in high school).

So keep soaring, Zeke ... just make sure you land safely.


Another NFL move, another win for Jerry

When NFL owners voted 31-1 on Monday to allow the iconic Raiders franchise to move from Oakland to Las Vegas, Dallas billionaire and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones won. Again.

San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami explains:

"[Jerry Jones] has now helped the 49ers into the Levi's Stadium gold mine, brokered the deal to get the Rams into Inglewood and then the Chargers there, too, and now has guided the Raiders to Las Vegas, due to start playing in the new stadium by 2019 or 2020."

"Jones owns a major chunk of Legends, a hospitality-marketing company that will now sell the suites and sponsorships for the Las Vegas stadium (with potentially the largest naming-rights deal ever), is selling them for the Rams and Chargers in LA, and sold out the suites and sponsorships for Levi's."
 

boozeman

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McNair's comments were pretty telling. Jones likes to pretend he can play poker.
 

P_T

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I don't understand how it's the Cowboys who are stuck in that predicament... cap wise, we can carry Romo as our backup this year, we don't HAVE TO move him. If we don't, we will again have the best QB situation in the league. IMO, it is the Texans that seem to be stuck. Are they seriously prepared to go into the season with Savage? Or a rookie? Their defense is great, but Watt is one more back injury from retirement and Clowny's knee can go at any time. You can make the same argument for the Broncos, how much longer are they going to be able to keep that defense at an elite level?

No, all Jerry needs to do is sit and wait.
 

1bigfan13

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I don't understand how it's the Cowboys who are stuck in that predicament... cap wise, we can carry Romo as our backup this year, we don't HAVE TO move him. If we don't, we will again have the best QB situation in the league. IMO, it is the Texans that seem to be stuck. Are they seriously prepared to go into the season with Savage? Or a rookie? Their defense is great, but Watt is one more back injury from retirement and Clowny's knee can go at any time. You can make the same argument for the Broncos, how much longer are they going to be able to keep that defense at an elite level?

No, all Jerry needs to do is sit and wait.
Agreed. Obviously it's not an ideal situation to have a your backup QB having that type of cap hit, but to my understanding the Cowboys have the cap room to sign their draft class.

So "worst case" scenario the Cowboys have to go into the 2017 season with 2 Pro Bowl caliber QBs. Woe is us....how would we ever survive being "stuck" in such a tough predicament?

Meanwhile the Texans, who are built to win now, are saddled with Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden. Good luck with that, Bob.

So I fail to see how the Texans have the upper-hand in this situation.

Also, I reject the notion that I've heard on more than one occasion that holding on to Romo for this long is screwing him over. He's being paid $15+ million dollars. I get that he wants to play but he's being compensated quite well. It's not like they are preventing him from earning more money elsewhere.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Agreed. Obviously it's not an ideal situation to have a your backup QB having that type of cap hit, but to my understanding the Cowboys have the cap room to sign their draft class.

So "worst case" scenario the Cowboys have to go into the 2017 season with 2 Pro Bowl caliber QBs. Woe is us....how would we ever survive being "stuck" in such a tough predicament?

Meanwhile the Texans, who are built to win now, are saddled with Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden. Good luck with that, Bob.

So I fail to see how the Texans have the upper-hand in this situation.
The Texans don't, but they are trying to keep their poker face so I'm not surprised he would talk like that. Truth is they are in a desperate situation. And they showed their cards when they dumped Osweiler and did nothing to find a suitable replacement.
 

ravidubey

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Also, I reject the notion that I've heard on more than one occasion that holding on to Romo for this long is screwing him over. He's being paid $15+ million dollars. I get that he wants to play but he's being compensated quite well. It's not like they are preventing him from earning more money elsewhere.
Can you imagine the circus if we keep Romo on the roster into OTAs but don't allow him in good faith to compete? Basically disinvite him from camp? Can you imagine if he stops taking the high road and starts talking to media while the rest of the team is at OTAs? That whole situation would be fucked up, and really not worth whatever late draft pick we're trying to extract from the Texans.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Can you imagine the circus if we keep Romo on the roster into OTAs but don't allow him in good faith to compete? Basically disinvite him from camp? Can you imagine if he stops taking the high road and starts talking to media while the rest of the team is at OTAs? That whole situation would be fucked up, and really not worth whatever late draft pick we're trying to extract from the Texans.
Sure, Romo can throw a fit. But see what that does for his career. He'd basically be burning his career for the sake of being released. Fox and CBS want him for the nice fun guy that he is. You start acting like a spoiled brat (ala TO) and those offers are going to start to dry up. And when he does hit free agency? His contract will almost undeniably be smaller as a result.

People act like there is no repercussion for Romo throwing a fit. It's in his best interest not to. If throwing a fit was the best thing to do when you want released, every NFL player would do this when they want to change teams. They don't for a very good reason.

On another subject I'd be tempted to let Romo compete during the OTAs. Compete as the backup QB. What are the real odds that he gets hurt during an OTA? There is no contact and it has to be seriously rare for a QB to sustain a serious injury at an OTA. Plus if you do that it signals to teams like the Broncos and Texans that the Cowboys may be serious about keeping Romo. Just sort of an extra level of bluff (With a little risk).
 

Donpingon

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Sure, Romo can throw a fit. But see what that does for his career. He'd basically be burning his career for the sake of being released. Fox and CBS want him for the nice fun guy that he is. You start acting like a spoiled brat (ala TO) and those offers are going to start to dry up. And when he does hit free agency? His contract will almost undeniably be smaller as a result.

People act like there is no repercussion for Romo throwing a fit. It's in his best interest not to. If throwing a fit was the best thing to do when you want released, every NFL player would do this when they want to change teams. They don't for a very good reason.

On another subject I'd be tempted to let Romo compete during the OTAs. Compete as the backup QB. What are the real odds that he gets hurt during an OTA? There is no contact and it has to be seriously rare for a QB to sustain a serious injury at an OTA. Plus if you do that it signals to teams like the Broncos and Texans that the Cowboys may be serious about keeping Romo. Just sort of an extra level of bluff (With a little risk).
I agree, telegraph to the league youre gonna let Romo compete for the starting role and let things fall as they may. What if Dak tears his ACL? Unloading Romo prematurely also has risks
 

Chocolate Lab

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Romo doesn't even have to "throw a fit" for this to be a major distraction. He could say nothing and the media circus will be unreal. Imagine all the questions Jerry and Garrett would get about whether Tony would be allowed to compete for a job, etc. "Day 12 of Romogate and no answer from the Cowboys."

Of course, P.T. Jones himself would probably love such a clusterfuck -- imagine all the attention every day -- no matter how much it distracted the football team.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Romo doesn't even have to "throw a fit" for this to be a major distraction. He could say nothing and the media circus will be unreal. Imagine all the questions Jerry and Garrett would get about whether Tony would be allowed to compete for a job, etc. "Day 12 of Romogate and no answer from the Cowboys."

Of course, P.T. Jones himself would probably love such a clusterfuck -- imagine all the attention every day -- no matter how much it distracted the football team.
Who cares what questions Jerry and Garrett get asked? I don't care if those two get bugged to all high hell about it. I don't see how that somehow hurts the players.
 

Chocolate Lab

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I certainly don't care if they both get bugged to death... literally.

But the players will get asked, too. A lot.

Or are you one of those who don't believe in distractions. Some people don't.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I certainly don't care if they both get bugged to death... literally.

But the players will get asked, too. A lot.

Or are you one of those who don't believe in distractions. Some people don't.
I don't believe that players get distracted by interviews about other players. I really don't think Dez goes out there and plays differently because Todd Archer asked him if it's weird that Tony Romo is the backup QB. These Cowboys already get a shit ton of media attention. If they can't handle it they are screwed before they start.
 

Jiggyfly

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Who cares what questions Jerry and Garrett get asked? I don't care if those two get bugged to all high hell about it. I don't see how that somehow hurts the players.
You don't see how what hurts the players?

Having a team divided along QB lines could definitely hurt the players.

But to tell the truth I don't think Romo has much juice with the current guys.
 

Cowboysrock55

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You don't see how what hurts the players?

Having a team divided along QB lines could definitely hurt the players.

But to tell the truth I don't think Romo has much juice with the current guys.
Considering Romo has already conceded the starting job to Dak (See press conference last year) no I don't think so at all. Do you think it hurt the team last year?
 

Chocolate Lab

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I don't believe that players get distracted by interviews about other players. I really don't think Dez goes out there and plays differently because Todd Archer asked him if it's weird that Tony Romo is the backup QB. These Cowboys already get a shit ton of media attention. If they can't handle it they are screwed before they start.
That's fine, but just know you are in perfect agreement with Jerry Jones on that.
 

Cowboysrock55

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That's fine, but just know you are in perfect agreement with Jerry Jones on that.
There are circuses that can be a distraction. Hard Knocks for example, that's a distraction that hurts your football team in my opinion. Things that disrupt practice, those are another.

Romo being on the football team? :lol That's just silly to me.
 
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