With the annual meetings beginning this weekend and the Cowboys presumably hoping someone/anyone will make them a trade offer for quarterback Tony Romo, the Broncos are doing what they can to make sure the Cowboys know that there won’t be a spontaneous offer for Romo in Arizona.
Jeff Darlington of ESPN reports that the Broncos are “not pursuing” Romo, but that they haven’t closed the door on him.
The Broncos have consistently made it clear that they won’t trade for Romo, presumably because the momentum for weeks has been pointing toward the Cowboys cutting him. One day after telling Romo he’d be released, the Cowboys changed course, opting to wait for a possible trade.
The Cowboys likely have opted to wait for the league meetings in the hopes of getting an offer. If they don’t, they’ll have to decide whether to release him before the launch of the offseason program next month. At that point, they risk Romo suffering a fluke injury while on a treadmill or in the weight room that would put them on the hook for his full $14 million salary in 2017.
The Broncos were willing to trade for quarterback Colin Kaepernick last year. The talks broke down on the question of whether Kaepernick would reduce his $12 million base salary for 2016.
The Cowboys apparently believe that Romo has some value in trade, even if it’s a 2018 draft pick based on how many games he plays and how well his new team performs in 2017.
Given the possibility that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn’t want Romo to play for the Texans, the best outcome for everyone could be a decision by Romo to walk away from the game and to become a broadcaster with FOX or CBS -- perhaps with the door open on a Roger Clemens-style return during the season, if a contender loses its quarterback to injury.