Who Should The Future Be Behind Tony Romo At Quarterback?

It’s the off season, so as usual, all of the crazy draft, free agency, and trade scenarios are floating around. I have to say, some of them are quite comical to say the least. Especially the previous talk of trading up to get an unproven quarterback like RGIII.

Every year the media has their top 5 QB’s they not only sell to the fans, but it seems the NFL GM’s buy in to the same propaganda. All that being said, I decided to not only show the fans how ridiculously flawed the medias track record is, but shed some light on the best possible scenario to solidify the Cowboys future behind Tony Romo.

As you all know, all we hear about, is Romo can’t lead his team, Romo can’t win in the clutch, Romo can’t take the Cowboys to the Super Bowl. Did you ever wonder why an undrafted QB out of Eastern Illinois gets so much criticism? Did these self proclaimed experts forget he was undrafted? That most of them said he would be a 3rd string QB at best? Many said he would never translate to the NFL period! I am going to show you why.

Lets start with 2003, the year the Cowboys acquired Tony as an undrafted free agent. In the 2003 NFL Draft 4 Quarterbacks went in the 1st round. Carson Palmer, 1st overall, in 106 career starts he completed 2,223 of 3,545 passes 62.7%, for 25,447 yards, 167 TD’s and 116 INT’s for a career passer rating of 86.3. He has never won a Super Bowl. 7th overall was Brian Leftwich, between 3 different NFL teams,he only got 49 starts, completed 905 of 1,552 passes 58.3%. for 10,260 yards, 58 TD’s and 41 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 79.7. Never won the big one. 19th overall was Kyle Boler who is too irrelevant to talk about. 22nd overall was Rex Grossman, we all know how that worked out. The point is, based on what happened in the 2003 NFL draft, the so called experts were 0-4 on the 1st round QB’s if you compare them to what Romo has done!

For sake of time and space, I will only show the QB’s taken in the top 5 of the draft among active players.

2004 Eli Manning 1st overall. In 119 career starts, he completed 2,291 of 3,921 passes 58.4%, for 27,579 yards, 185 TD’s and 129 INT’s for a career passer rating of 82.1, 2 rings.

2005 1st overall, Alex Smith. In only 66 starts over 7 NFL seasons, he completed 1,137 of 1,959 passes 58%, for 12,543 yards, 68 TD’s and 58 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 76.4, no rings.

2006, 3rd over all Vince Young. In 50 starts he completed 755 of 1,354 passes 57.9%, 46 TD’s and 51 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 74.4. No rings.

2007, 1st overall, JaMarcus Russell. In a short 3 year career he only started 25 games. He completed 354 of 680 passes 52.1%, for 4,083 yards, 18 TD’s and 23 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 65.2, no rings.

2008, 3rd overall Matt Ryan. In 62 starts he completed 1,232 of 2,022 passes 60.9%, for 14,238 yards, 95 TD’s and 46 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 88.4, no rings.

2009, 1st overall Matthew Stafford. In 29 starts he completed 679 of 1,136 passes 59.8%, for 7,840 yards,60 TD’s and 37 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 84.7, no rings.

2010 1st overall Sam Bradford. In 26 starts he completed 545 of 947 passes 57.6%, 5,676 yards, 24 TD’s and 21 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 74.2, no rings.

2003 undrafted Tony Romo. In 77 starts he completed 1,672 of 2,592 passes 64.5%, for 20,834 yards, 149 TD’s and only 72 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 96.9, which is currently 2nd all time, no rings.

Ok let me see if I got this straight. Out of all these quarterbacks that were taken top 5 in the NFL draft,, (many of them 1st over all) “only 1 of them has won a Super Bowl?” Hmmm, gosh if that’s the case, why is everyone criticizing the only “undrafted” guy on the list? Granted, the last few guys haven’t had much time to win a Super Bowl, but this does prove that drafting a top 5 QB will not instantly guarantee you s Super Bowl as many fans tend to think. This brings me to the point of this article.

My story is continued on the next page…..