Cowboys Must Cut Ties With Orton

For reasons only he knows, Dallas Cowboys back-up quarterback Kyle Orton doesn’t seem very eager to play football in 2014.  By now, I’m sure you’re aware that Orton has not reported to any of the team’s voluntary offseason activities so far. And he has also apparently put it out there that retirement seems like a real possibility.  Of course, Orton’s not saying anything directly.  These are just rumors being floated out there.

My question is… what is there to retire from?

How stupid do you have to be to turn down $3.25 million to basically have the best ticket in the entire building for sixteen NFL games?  Seriously.

In two previous seasons as a Cowboy, Orton has made two brief appearances and played one full game.  For the record, he’s never been sacked in any of those three games he actually came onto the field.  Are you kidding me?  Now you want to kind of put it out there that maybe you don’t want to play anymore?

I have a reply to that.

Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out…

Look, I am well aware that it does not make good financial sense to give in to the passive-aggressive ploys Orton is partaking in by cutting him.  I get that you would lose the chance to recoup some of the signing bonus you gave him.  I TOTALLY get the idea of a Brandon Weeden / Caleb Hanie battle for the prize of helping facilitate the calls of plays into Tony Romo‘s helmet microphone is a little unsettling for Cowboys fans to say the least.  For these reasons and more, Dallas will likely not just cut him and move on…

But they should.

For one, $3 million dollars to Jerry Jones is like $100 to you or me.  Yes, it would suck if you just gave away $100 for nothing but I am sure there are plenty of times you have spent $100 on practically nothing and your world did not soon end.  Jerry’s won’t either.  Another reason that I am calling for a swift kick out of Valley Ranch is that we’ve already done this dance before.  This reminds me a little bit of the Jay Ratliff situation.  Remember that Ratliff, apparently similarly to Orton, has no problem being deceitful about his intentions and/or capabilities to play, all as a ploy to get money for nothing.  Dallas cannot keep hope alive that Orton is going to actually show up and provide the services they intended him to be available for.

But mostly, they need to just cut him to end the circus by sending a message.  YOU’RE A BACKUP QUARTERBACK.  You’re largely unnecessary and you’re certainly not worth the time and energy that this little game you’re playing is taking.  This season is too important to many people’s futures (see Garrett, Jason) to waste any time dealing with the ridiculousness that Orton is putting the team through.

If you really want to retire, then please do.  While it would be a little unnerving to think of Brandon Weeden to the rescue if something should happen to Romo, it’s a lot better of a thought than to have to deal with the day in and day out drama of this whole money grab ploy Orton is trying to pull.

If the Cowboys continue to play the game with Orton, that should tell you truly of what they think of the other guys in camp.  To me, sending a strong message and forgetting about the small change by just moving on would double as an end to the story and a confidence boost for whoever it is actually wants to be here.  Give me that guy over the selfish, me first type any day.