What’s with the negative reaction to Tony Romo’s new TV deal?

Former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo just signed the richest deal ever for a color commentator in sports. What’s with all the ill will toward the broadcaster?

Imagine this. The year is 2020. And the Dallas Cowboys‘ starting quarterback is theoretically a free-agent and then all of sudden, the news breaks. Tony Romo has just signed a new deal for $17 million annually to remain where he was last season.

Okay, not as dramatic as it was set up to be. But it’s irony at it’s finest. At a time when the Cowboys are playing coy with an apparently under-drafted guy who has overachieved throughout his first four years in the league, their former signal-caller is signing million-dollar deals in the upper teens annually.

This all while Dak Prescott, the aforementioned overachiever who could have been a lot better over the first four years at the same time, is yet to strike a deal with Dallas. While that is important in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t important here at the moment.

At least not as important as the television deal that Romo signed for some weird reason. Not that Cowboys fans made it a big deal, as we do everything. It was made a big deal more so by the reactions given to the news.

It seems as though after hearing the news that was initially reported by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post,  many people and specifically NFL players, wanted to give an opinion. While Rodger Sherman of The Ringer and Odell Beckham Jr. had immediate thoughts of their own, the initial player reaction that most stuck out to me was that of New Orleans Saints wideout Michael Thomas.

Here’s what Thomas had to say in response to Sherman’s tweet via the nydailynews.com.

"“Thank you that’s why we shouldn’t sign the new CBA agreement no way the announcer should me making more then 90% of the players.”"

Interesting words indeed. Although noble of a $100 million dollar plus guy to take up the cause, it seems pretty silly for several reasons.

The NFL and CBS are closely associated, but they are two totally different entities. To make that comparison is a false equivalency, that if you really think about it, makes absolutely no sense at all. While you want the players to make as much money as possible, that’s not what this is about, this is about not saying something silly to attempt to make a point.

The next thing to think about here is the fact that Tony Romo moves the needle. Whether it be for his former position as the signal-caller of America’s Team (see Troy Aikman). His many mentions on social media, or his now-famous pre-snap reads and predictions, Romo is killing it. He is a recognizable face and voice by many different people while they also seem to like him and that earns the check in that business.

Lastly, ESPN was apparently ready to pay Romo the same money or more if CBS wouldn’t have offered it to him. He would have gotten the money regardless. That’s just the way it goes in a free market.

So while there may be many out there that have a ton to say, they aren’t warranted in their comments and to be plain and simple, they’re just wrong. He earned the money, he deserves the money and by golly, he is now going to get the money.

Tony Romo may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but somebody is sipping what he’s pouring. CBS just purchased a ton of it.