Tony Romo’s Been Traded, A New Era Begins In Big D….Just Kidding!
Scared You! Didn’t I?…
As far as I’m aware, it’s not true, but how does that statement sound? How did it make you feel for that brief second? Was it a good feeling or a feeling of dread?
It was dread for me. That’s one way I know that Romo is still my QB of choice.
But, maybe I’m on to something
Let’s do this. Let’s replace Tony Romo. Many of you are calling for it anyway. Even card carrying Romo lover, Randy Galloway of the Star-Telegram, has renounced his Romosexuality. So lets give Cowboy Nation what they want.
First, lets try to replace him with a QB from Dallas’ past. Romo is, and will continue to be, compared to the best from our own past. Let’s see what that looks like. We’ll use Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Danny White, Troy Aikman and Drew Bledsoe — I pre-eliminated Gary Hogeboom and Quincy Carter and all the other crappy ones.
With our offensive line, forget about Troy Aikman or Drew Bledsoe. They were pocket passers, weren’t mobile and would get killed. Danny White and Don Meredith are out because they both would struggle without a strong running game, which we do not have.
So that leaves Roger Staubach. OK, ‘Roger the Dodger’ could bob and weave and improvise as the line falls apart. As the Dallas Cowboys are built right now, Roger is the only good QB of Dallas’ past that could possibly replace Romo with any hope of success. Too bad he is in his sixties and might not survive a full contact practice.
Next, before we trade Tony, lets see which other starting QBs could come in to this system, with these offensive players and do a better job. All the current top pocket passers would have to be ruled out. That means Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco and maybe even Phillip Rivers. You can disagree all you want, but they wouldn’t survive. Neither would Josh Freeman or Ryan Fitzpatrick. With our line, they would all get pummeled into different versions of David Carr. Just look what’s happening to Matt Ryan in Atlanta or Jay Cutler in Chicago.
Ben Roethlisberger is the same kind of QB as Romo, a scrambling, playground style, improviser. Ben is slower and more prone to sacks for a loss, but less likely to throw a pick at the worst times. That’s a draw there in my book. Eli Manning has better pedigree, but he is not comfortable improvising, though he is slightly more mobile than the other QBs I mentioned. Eli is as prone to mistakes as Tony, but not as mobile as Tony, so Eli is out. Aaron Rogers and Drew Brees are the only proven, mobile, veteran QBs left that are better, consistently, than Romo. Of those two, I think Brees has the edge in Dallas’ current system (I have mentioned this before, remember that Sean Payton tried to take Tony Romo with him to New Orleans before going after Drew Brees), but Rogers would probably do just fine.
So of the other 31 starting passers, only Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers would be an improvement over Romo.
If I left someone out you think would be better, tell me who they are. To prove it, make sure you consider the Cowboys current team and system.
Now, lets trade Tony Romo.
Dallas should be able to get the same value for Romo that the Denver Broncos got for Jay Cutler. That is: A teams current starter, their next two first round picks and a third round pick. The question is, what teams would pay that price?
The Washington Redskins might. Mike Shanahan is an Eastern Illinois Alumni and tried to lure Tony to Denver when he went undrafted in 2003. The then Coach of the Broncos even offered a higher signing bonus than the Cowboys offered. The owner of the Redskins, Dan Snyder, has been known to pay higher prices for lesser talent. If we trade Tony to the Redskins, we would want John Beck, not Grossman, in return. I would let Beck and McGee battle for the starting job next year and let Jon Kitna start the remainder of this year. Unless a great QB prospect is available in the middle of the first round in the next two drafts, the Cowboys should look for a running back, then a Safety/CB.
Speaking of the Denver Broncos, they are in desperate need of a QB to step off the Merry-go-Round. We could do a three way trade with another team, like Miami. Send Tony to Denver for Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn and next years first and second and 2013’s first, then send Kyle on to Miami for their first next year. that would give us three picks in the first round in 2012, two picks in the first round in 2013. I might actually consider that one.
The Miami Dolphins. If Tony Sporano doesn’t get the axe soon (trading for Romo might save his job) He would be reunited with the QB he helped coach under Bill Parcells in Dallas. The joke has been that Miami is built with Dallas’ left overs anyway. The only thing that makes this tough is they don’t have a QB do give us back in return. Maybe we get a first, a second and a third in 2012 and a first and second in 2013. It would totally be worth it for Miami. As a matter of fact, we could pull a Hershel Walker/Minnesota Vikings like trade with the Dolphins, because they are desperate and we could use the draft picks.
This scenario would also go for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Seattle Seahawks and even the Vikings (again, how cool would that be?)
The list of teams that would want Tony Romo if he became available is long, not as long as it would have been two or three years ago, but still long. Only 8 to 10 teams are truly set at QB and would not at least consider taking a talent like Tony Romo. That leaves 22 to 24 teams to trade with.
If I am looking at the NFL QB landscape correctly, taking in the previous scenerios: No matter how you present Tony Romo — in a trade, a fantasy replacement, or statistically — He keeps ending up as a top ten QB. At least 22 other teams would take him and his turn overs. The question is… Do I really want to give him up? When you consider who you might get to replace him, do you really want to either?
I have a better idea of what to do with our talented and flawed QB as we come out of this bye.
The best thing that the Cowboys could do for themselves, and for Tony, is what Mike Holmgren did with Brett Favre. Rein in the Gunslinger just enough to get to the Superbowl.
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