Why Jerry? Romo Signs Extension

[craww]

As a cowboys fan, it pains me to say it, but Tony's been extended 6 years. We have the worst "GM" in sports...he will be 33 in 3 weeks. Jerry has got to stop signing people to these long term deals past their 30th b day, then deferring their salary towards the end of the contract. Terrance Newman cost us 5 million on the cap last year for crying out loud. We should have let him play it out, dealt with the cap troubles over the next 2 years, and moved forward.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

As a Raiders fan I say yall should have taken Palmer. I swear if we waste our third pick on a qb because that fat head won't take a pay cut I will summon the ghost of Al to kick the mess out of Reggie. We have Pryor we don't need another dang qb. If Palmer does leave hopefully he takes lienhart with him.

[tomustang]

Bad for you, good for me!!

 

 

and some good humor..

 

[Teal]

Disclaimer. Not a cowboys fan.

I do not think Romo is a "bad" qb, i think his number over the past few years speak for themself, he is in the top 16. I think that is Romo has not not been the main issue in Dallas. At times he has been brilliant and other times he has been the goat.

To make this short, i do believe that some QBs 33 or older are worth what hes getting. I just do not beleive that he is. If it was a 6 year 70mil deal, with 25 guaranteed or some where in those lines then i can agree.

I can agree that there is a slim market for Qb this year and that this was a move to clear cap space. I hope they use the space to get him some good help in the second wave of free agency and the draft.

[craww]

I'm about as diehard as it gets. Ive honestly wanted to stop being a fan at times lol, but I couldnt if I tried. Ive watched the majority of the snaps he's taken in his career and can tell you, he just doesn't have "it". Tony may not be the one doing the finger pointing (although he can be seen yelling at a lineman/wideout after every pick) but it's always something to blame, EVERY YEAR. At some point an elite QB wills his team to the big win. It's not just playoff chokes mind you, every year there's been at least 2-3 showdown games where the offense lays an egg. He can throw 21 points on the board when their down 28 at will. It's gotten really hard to watch. It's one thing to show up, the other team is better that day and that's that. But that's not the way this team plays.

The move temporarily helps this years cap ( next year is even more bleak). Going forward, Dez Bryant,Sean Lee, and then tyron smith are coming up for their next contract. At that point Jerry will have deferred this deal into 25mil a year. At some point you have to pay the piper.

[Darren.]

As a Bills fan, I would have taken Romo, but the Bills have a completely new coaching staff, and a different mentality than Dallas.

 

JJ definitely seems to be losing his edge, though. Not sure I would have signed Romo for a 6-year extension, but given the fact they couldn't franchise him in 2014, this was probably his best move for a quality QB. Surround him with better weapons, and give him a shot of "clutch gene", and Dallas will be fine.

[Marty]

I agree with Teal; Romo's not a bad QB. He hasn't had a supporting cast. And don't hold your breath waiting for Jerry to fire the GM.

[Chris at Tech]

As a Giants fan.......

Ahhhhhh hahahaha!!!!

[Felix77]

Here's what pains me ... I understand extending him.  There is little to anything on the market now to replace him BUT 6 years and 55 Mil Guaranteed?  He's won only one playoff game for them!  d**n!

 

BTW - I'm a Giants fan too ... Feel sorry for you Cowboys ... it could be worse.  You could be the Jets.  3 QB's and none would be able to backup Romo.  LOL

[Teal]

As a Carolina fan, we went through the same thing with Jake Delhomme after the 08 season, jake got us in the the play offs and then threw 5 picks and a fumble to the cardinals. Jake was obviously at the end of his career. Two months later, the Panthers Extend him and end up giving him 12mil for a disaterous 09 season and then cut him and had to pay him 10mil more...

So i definitley feel bad for you Dallas guys, but on the flip side, Romo has alot more talent than Delhomme...i think Romo CAN be great....hes def got potential...but how long is it going to take for Jerry to get him enough help...

[Quillback]

Jerry is crazy like a fox.  He realizes that football is entertainment, we fans think of it as a sport.  We fans want our teams to win, but Jerry doesn't necessarily see it that way.  Signing Romo to what appears to be a ridiculous contract, generates publicity and adds to the soap opera drama that is the Dallas Cowboys.  No matter what the Boys do on the field next year, Jerry's new stadium will be filled, Cowboys logo stuff will be sold, and Jerry's wallet will grow fatter.

 

Not that Jerry doesn't want to win, but making money is his primary goal, and he's d**n good at it.

[Hanover_Yakker]

As a loyal fan for over 37 years now, the JJ era is one that pains me. The Romo deal is not the issue at hand, the issue is that JJ is living in a dream world where he undervalued the concept of a team and thinks that big splashes in free agency and the draft will be enough. Ever since JJ fired the real JJ back in 94, the Boys have spiraled downhill. Parcells planted and built a foundation that JJ has since succeeded in only adding overpriced talent and overvalued draft picks. Ware, Written, Ratliff are all good picks, but those three do not make up for two decades of mismanagement.

The focus should now be on drafting a core interior line for both sides of the ball. If we don't shore up that line quickly, Romo will never survive the length of his contract. Monty Kiffin bases his defense off of a war daddy 3 technique, an athlete at middle linebacker and a savvy safety. We only have the ILB right now. We also still need a true C, two OGs, a RT, couple of RBs, another WR, and a QB in waiting.  We are in a rebuild whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

Face it, the Romo deal is a bandaid to make it appear like we are being competitive during a rebuild. Romo is a top 10 QB who would excel in many systems if given better protection. And for all of the nay sayers out there, look at QBs on teams with porous offensive lines and tell me how good there QBs look lying on their back play after play? Even Eli, Peyton, Tom, Aaron, Matthew, Matt, etc look human when they get no protection.

That doesn't exempt Tony from some of his bad throws, but not all of them are truly his fault. Most of them can be linked to pressure.

[deaknh03]

It was done to gain cap space this year and next. Romo doesnt see half of this contract thru without being released or restructured.

[CKFishin]

Sorry but I do not blame Romo for the Cowboys issues... If you watched when they let Romo control the offense from the line they were awesome as a whole... It's whoever else is calling plays.... This is from an outside view Rams fan here....

[craww]

We'll see this year now that Garret's not calling the plays. My biggest hope for the draft is we get better between the tackles on the o line. Romo can escape when tackle gets beat with the best of them, when he comes out of that spin move looking downfield he's at his best. When the pocket collapses up the middle he gets cute.

Like yakker, I'm also concerned about our safety's. Church may end up being a decent strong safety if he can stay healthy, their apparently counting onMatt Johnson who couldn't get on the field last year due to a different injury every week. the rumor is they really like the vacarro kid out of texas, he doesnt seem to be much a playmaker though. Ronde barber is still out there isn't he? He would be an awesome stopgap to buy some time.

[Hyrule Bass]

as a Redskins fan, im liking this move. i doubt Romo will see all 6 years, but atleast 2-3 for jones pulls the plug on him. but for the meantime i can continue to count on Romo to throw away big games in big moments. There was almost nothing greater than watching the RG3 and the Redskins destroy the Cowboys on Thanksgiving last year, giving Romo his first T-Day loss. and then going on to watch him throw the game away against the Redskins in the Week 17 divisional championship game.

[Hanover_Yakker]

The real deal is for 4 years if you look at how the contract is structured.  A lot of fans overreacted to the news of the deal without fully understanding it's true value.  The only numbers they saw were $108 Million extnesion and $55 Million in guarantees.  What they failed to understand was the $11.5M was already guaranteed under his current deal for the 2013 season, so in reality, the remaining amount is really what was "new money".  The remaining fluff in the guarantees is a medical safeguard for the cowboys for the first three years.  All in total the real value equates to just around $57M.  Which by the way is less than Drew Brees ($61M and Joe Flacco $62M).  The rest of the numbers are just funny money that the player will never actually see the full value of due to future contract restructures or the player getting cut.

 

Romo's deal is actually very favorable when compared to other QB deals currently and will pale in comparison when the deals for Aaron Rodgers, Matt Stafford and Matt Ryan come up in the next two years.  Where it is going to be a challenge is in year 2-3 of the deal where his salary balloons into the mid $20M range per season, but that will pale again in comparison to the aforementioned QBs who will have larger deals and more guaranteed money.  The real terms of the contract look like this:

 

Year      Base         Sign. Bonus  Misc.         Cap Charge

 

2013     $1.5 M        $5 M         $5.32 M       $11.82 M

2014     $13.5 M      $5 M         $3.27 M       $21.77 M

2015     $17 M         $5 M         $3.27 M       $25.27 M

2016     $8.5 M        $5 M         $1.64 M       $15.14 M

2017     $14 M         $5 M            N/A          $19 M

2018     $19.5 M        N/A            N/A          $19.5 M

2019     $20.5 M        N/A            N/A          $20.5 M

 

In reality, the only problematic years are 2-3.  The rest of the deal looks like a less than market deal for a top10-15 QB.  He'll never see any of that money in reality, because they will approach him next year and have him restructure his base salary again.  It's done every year on every team in order to extend the player until the point in which the player loses leverage over his team and can be cut without too great of a cap hit.

 

For all the Redskin fans out there - good luck with your QB situation.  If he continues to have some measure of success, which I think he will, you will be faced with the same dilemma only worse - the market value for his services will far outweigh the price that the Cowboys will have paid.  Oh yeah, you'll still be sitting there 5 years from now waiting in anticipation like the rest of the Cowboys fans for that long overdue Super Bowl ......

 

It's a proven fact over the course of history in the NFL, change is only temporary.  It only takes one offseason to figure out how to stop a new wrinkle on the offensive side of the ball.  Remember the run and shoot based offense from the Oilers under Warren Moon?  How many Super Bowls did that win?  Zero.  How about the WIldcat?  Didn't last long as a viable play call did it?  A mobile QB is a great thing when they are under pressure but not as a primary offensive play call.  Look at all the mobile QBs in the history of the NFL - that means the QBs who were runners and not passers like Vick, Cunningham, Elway, Young, etc.  How many of them won a Super Bowl as a running QB?  Zero.  Now Elway and Young won SBs eventually, but only when they honed their passing and used the run as a last ditch effort.

 

If RGIII keeps it up, his career will be over before he even has a chance to sign a long term contract.  He is gifted and an awesome athlete, but he needs to learn how to play smarter.  Brady and Manning haven't lasted this long for their athletic prowess and they are classic prototypical pocket or mid-line passers.  RGIII, Romo, Kaepernik, etc all should take note of this fact and hone their passing skills first, run when needed to extend a play or get that first down but slide and avoid the hit.  You'll last a lot longer in this league. 

[roadwarrior]

Very insightful review, but I must take issue with your evaluation of John Elway.

John was one of the greatest pasing quarterbacks to ever play the game. Under

Reeves the offensive strategy was to emphasize the run during the same era

that Marino was feature in a "pass only" offensive game plan. Still, Marin played 

two extra seasons to catch up with Elway's statistics and never won a Super Bowl.

 

What i think separates John Elway from other "modern era" QBs was his commitment

to the team. He was never focused on stats, just winning. He might be best known

for The Drive", but his biggest play set the tone for the Bronco's first Super Bowl

win: The Helicopter

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpJaJM4Cy8o

 

Back on topic...,

 

I think Romo lacks leadership characteristics and has limited talent. Apparently Dallas

will continue to support The Boys for another twenty years without winning a play-off

game. For such a storied franchise, the Romo era has been pitiful without any relief

in sight.

[deaknh03]

Very insightful review, but I must take issue with your evaluation of John Elway.

John was one of the greatest pasing quarterbacks to ever play the game. Under

Reeves the offensive strategy was to emphasize the run during the same era

that Marino was feature in a "pass only" offensive game plan. Still, Marin played 

two extra seasons to catch up with Elway's statistics and never won a Super Bowl.

 

What i think separates John Elway from other "modern era" QBs was his commitment

to the team. He was never focused on stats, just winning. He might be best known

for The Drive", but his biggest play set the tone for the Bronco's first Super Bowl

win: The Helicopter

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpJaJM4Cy8o

agreed, Elway was mobile, but he was no runner. He ended up winning Bowls when Davis was with him, to balance out the offense.

[Hanover_Yakker]

I can respect that but I guess my point was more towards balance like deak just mentioned.  It has been proven year in and year out that a passing focused offense will not have long term success and will be challenged to win a SB.  As soon as teams realize that the balance hovers around the 60/40 rule (60% pass/ 40 % run), they will be better off.  Remember, football is a three-sided equilateral triangle - offense, defense and special teams.  If any one of the three or even worse two are disproportionate, it places greater pressure on the remaining element. 

 

Look at the Cowboys the past 3 years - decent special teams, competitive offense (albeit skewed more towards pass than run) and an excessive amount of pressure placed on the defense to hold leads with inferior talent.  Or in specific games where the defense does their part to get the ball back but albeit too late in the game and forcing the offense into pass only mode and predictable.  You have to have personnel to balance out each side of the triangle throughout each game and for the season on the whole otherwise, you'll end up like the Cowboys every year - big on promise, low on fulfillment.

[Jake P]

It pains me to watch Jerry the GM run the cowboys into a brick wall year after year. I finally stopped getting worked up over it and came to this short but true conclusion that I remind myself frequently.

 

 

As long as Jerry is running things, which will be until he dies, literally, the Cowboys do not have much of a chance of winning anything past week 16. The reason being is Jerry can not make the necessary moves to create a supporting cast for Romo to be successful.

 

That being said, I dont believe Romo is the answer. BUT he is not the problem either. He is harshly criticized for doing things most other "elite" QB's would do in pressured situations. There are some times when it is totally his fault, but every play makes mistakes.

 

How can a QB be successfull without an O line to protect him and no run game to help setup the pass game? Romo does one HELL of a job escaping would be sackers, in and out of the pocket. He is probably one of the best QB's in the game at getting away from pass rushers behind the line of scrimage.

 

I have a headache from repeating myself year after year. Almost to the point where I would rather not talk about it.....Go Cowboys!

[Sam]

Wait and see what the draft, trades and free agency holds in the future of the Dallas Cowboys quarterback situation.

 

Maybe Jerry is waiting for a QB to come out of college. Or he has his eye on a backup that can come in and learn under Romo.

 

Jerry wants another Super Bowl ring before he croaks and he has stabalized the QB position.

 

Now to upgrade his offensive line and receiving corps and bulk up the running backs to support Romo.

 

Where is Bama's Satan when you need him?

[shootermcbob]

As a lifelong cowboy fan, I have been resisting the urge to add to this post, only because it adds to the misery of being a cowboy fan.

 

Jerry wants CREDIT, yet lacks the talent as a gm/ player evaluator to build a team. Look around at the best teams, and the up and coming teams, ALL, EVERY ONE of them has a common trait...they spend little, very little in free agency, and draft well to extremely well. Dallas, well, uh, they can not draft if their life depends on it. They then compound that with adding free agents that marginally, if at all, improve the team. They are constantly spending tomorrow's money today on players that are no longer productive, or even obviously in decline.

 

For an example, look at the 49ers. DRAFT picks on the offensive and defensive lines, and high ones at that. Seattle, mostly the same, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Atlanta mostly the same.

 

Football is still a game won and lost in the trenches. Let's look at Dallas O line and D line....um, never mind. I am starting to get a headache.

 

EVERY other team in the league has learned that the draft is, without a doubt, the best and most cost effective way to build a team. Jerry believes....arrogantly...that he and his scouts can find players that are undrafted free agents to fill holes. This is successful about once per team every ten years or so.

 

Dallas had 12, yes, 12 draft picks in the 2009 draft. NONE if which are still with the team. NOT ONE PLAYER.

 

Everybody else can see it but Jerry.

[craww]

Jerry's definitely the biggest problem. The two times he's released GM duties its been a success. Parcells didn't bat a 1000, but he left right when a really talented core was taking shape.

I still despise romo the player. He is a poor mans Brett favre without the arm (early favre when he could move a little lol)....I hate being so cynical about my own guy but he is what he is.

People forget, he had a very, very good line for 3-4 years and still choked every year. Flozell Adams was a bone head but could block anyone in the league one on one. Gurode made 4 probowls at center and was dominant at times. Kozar got old fast but was a good guard for a long time, leonard Davis was a multiple probowl player who dominated once he became a guard. Columbo had a good 2-3 year run as top 10 right tackle. They weren't an all time great line but they were a team asset collectively.

Most fans would be hard pressed to name any lineman Brady, roethlisberger, or Eli had during their Super Bowl runs. Over the course of nearly a decade, the excuses just don't hold any weight. It's always something.