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An unfortunate truth of football is that one player’s injury becomes another’s opportunity.
Every sports team seems to openly espouse the “next man up philosophy,” but in football – essentially a game of demolition derby played out by enormous humans – that maxim takes on a more nefarious tenor.
Some of the greatest performers in NFL history rose only after a teammate had fallen.
Trent Green’s preseason knee injury inadvertently birthed the “Greatest Show on Turf,” run by Kurt Warner. Dan Pastorini’s broken leg led to the rise of Jim Plunkett. Jets linebacker Mo Lewis crushed Drew Bledsoe on Sept. 23, 2001 – an unknown second-year quarterback named Tom Brady replaced him.
Tony Romo’s break came at Bledsoe’s expense, too – though it was erratic play rather than an injury that sealed the latter’s fate.
Now Romo finds himself in the position that Warner, Pastroini and Bledsoe once did.
Dak Prescott is the present and the future. The NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, who became the Cowboys’ de facto starter after injuries to Romo and backup Kellen Moore, seized the moment and quelled any possibility of a quarterback controversy.
Romo’s 2017 cap number is $24.7 million, a massive sum for a 36-year-old backup with a troubling injury history.
It makes perfect sense for the Cowboys to either trade or release Romo this offseason. They can save $5.1 million if they move him prior to June 2, or designate him as a post-June 1 cut and spread the $19.6 million he would be owed over the next two seasons.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones remains, at least outwardly, uncertain over how the team will resolve this situation.
“It’s no secret that I just think so much of (Romo) as a person and think so much of him as a player,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “The team we have, especially the offensive side of the ball, was built for Tony. So this is what it is. It’s a juncture that we have to address.
“I don’t know how ultimately we will resolve this. Nobody should be alarmed because you don’t have all the answers. There are some issues here that you just got to see how the cards are played. But we’ll work through this.
“We have a sound enough foundation together that on an individual basis we’ll get through this.”
The question is, where will Romo be when they do actually get through this?
nmoyle@express-news.net
Twitter: @NRMoyle
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