Now that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has given quarterback Tony Romo a six-year, $108 million contract, Jones wants to see Romo make his entire life revolve around football.
“Peyton Manning-type time on the job,” Jones said he wants Romo to work, via the Dallas Morning News.
Jones said he and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett would love to see Romo spend the majority of his waking hours at the team facility.
“If Tony, for instance, would be here Monday through Saturday . . . from seven in the morning to six o’clock at night all over this place then that’s better than the way it’s been,” Jones said. “We’ll have more success, and Jason believes that. It’s certainly at quarterback but he believes it at the other positions. Tony is going to have more time, more presence, not only in the offseason but when the season starts, beginning Monday, assuming we played Sundays. He’s going to have more time on the job. A part of what we agreed with was extra time on the job, beyond the norm.”
Fair or not, Romo has taken criticism at times in his career for a perception that he doesn’t always have all his focus on football: Whether it’s working on his golf game, dating celebrities or going on vacations during bye weeks, Romo has heard talk that he has too many outside distractions.
Jones recently called that criticism “ridiculous,” but Jones also says he admires the way Manning doesn’t just do what is required of an NFL quarterback, and he hopes Romo will use Manning as his role model.
“Anybody will tell you that Peyton Manning’s involvement in what they do is a bonus as opposed to what the general commitment is of top quarterbacks in the NFL,” Jones said. “That’s a bonus. Again, because I haven’t been in meetings with Peyton for a long time, but we’re committed and [Romo’s] committed to that type of in-season and off-season approach for these years under his contract.”
Romo is certainly being paid enough to work overtime.