Welcome back to our 100-part series on the greatest Dallas Cowboys players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.
With our final single-digit entry of the series, we've got one of those no-brainer types of selections, as the easy choice here at No. 9, of course, is none other than longtime quarterback Tony Romo.
But before we take a little dive into the career of one of the most underappreciated signal-callers of this century, let's first take a quick look at every player to don the digit for America's Team over the years.
- Jon Hilbert, K
- Mitch Hoopes, P
- Rodney Peete, QB
- Tony Romo, QB
- Roger Ruzek, K
- Jaylon Smith, LB
- KaVontae Turpin, WR/KR/PR
The runner-up here is a pretty easy call as well, as that honor goes to KaVontae Turpin. While his official position is wide receiver, where he's getting better with each passing year, he's still at his most dangerous as a return specialist, a role for which he's earned three trips to the Pro Bowl and a pair of All-Pro selections, receiving First-Team honors in 2024 and Second-Team honors in 2025.
But again, the clear-cut call here is Romo.
Tony Romo left the Dallas Cowboys as the all-time franchise leader in passing yards and TD passes
Undrafted in 2003 following a stellar career at Eastern Illinois, Romo signed with the Cowboys as a free agent but didn't throw a single regular-season pass in each of his first three seasons with the club.
After being elevated to QB2 in 2005 behind Drew Bledsoe, Romo stepped in when Bledsoe was benched during a Week 7 loss to the New York Giants, and outside of the instances in which he was injured, he maintained the QB1 role in Big D for nearly a decade and set a plethora of franchise records along the way.
Yes, we'll get back to what happened at the end of that '06 season, as it's part of his legacy, but let's focus on some positives first.
From 2006 through the end of the 2016 season, which was the year Dak Prescott took control of the QB1 role after Romo went down with a back injury and never gave it up, Romo completed 65.3 percent of his passes, which is tied for the 17th-best percentage of all time with Peyton Manning.
In addition to that completion percentage, Romo also threw for 34,183 yards and 248 touchdowns, all of which stood as franchise records at the time of his retirement.
He's since been surpassed by Dak Prescott in completion percentage and passing yardage, and Dak is on track to take the TD passes title as well early in the 2026 season.
Romo, who earned four trips to the Pro Bowl and one Second-Team All-Pro selection, also sits in fourth on the Cowboys' all-time list with 78 regular-season victories, trailing only Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, and Prescott.
But just as it goes with Dak right now, he lacks legendary status because of his postseason record, as he went just 2-4 in the playoffs. But one has to wonder what would have happened had two plays in his career gone differently.
Getting back to that 2006 season, Dallas squared off with the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round, and with the Cowboys trailing 21-20 with just 1:19 left in the game, Romo served as the holder on a 19-yard field-goal attempt from Martin Gramatica. But he famously fumbled the snap, thus leading to a turnover on downs, which effectively ended the game.
And then, of course, you've got the 2014 campaign, which was the year Romo earned his Second-Team All-Pro selection, surpassed Aikman to become the franchise's all-time leader in passing yards, and led the team to a 12-4 regular-season record.
After defeating the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card Round, the third-seeded Cowboys went into Lambeau Field for the Divisional Round and had the second-seeded Green Bay Packers on the ropes late in the game, only for the infamous "Dez Caught It" play to take place in what ultimately resulted in a 26-21 loss.
The Packers went on to lose the NFC Championship Game to the Seahawks, who then went on to lose to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 49. There's no guarantee the Cowboys could have beaten either of those two other teams, but Romo at least becoming the first Dallas quarterback to take the team to the NFC title game since Aikman would have done wonders for his legacy.
Despite never getting the overall credit he deserves, we'll certainly give Romo his due as one of the most underrated and underappreciated quarterbacks of his era, easily one of the best quarterbacks in Cowboys history, and obviously the best in Dallas history to sport No. 9.
Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees
- No. 0: Well, there's literally only one option here
- No. 1: Quietly one of Dallas' better special teams weapons
- No. 2: He once stood alone in the record books
- No. 3: This player needed just one season to make his mark
- No. 4: This is a no-brainer
- No. 5: This player has the third-most points in Cowboys history
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