There’s No Need to Get Romo

Earlier this week, Randy Gurzi asserted that the Texans should pursue Dallas’ Tony Romo in the offseason. However, I think this is a terrible idea.

There have been many critics of Tony Romo over the years. It comes with the position of being the Dallas Cowboys quarterback. From Roger Staubach to Don Meredith to Troy Aikman, there are few positions that have had as much glamour, and conversely as much scrutiny.

But Tony Romo is not a bad quarterback. In fact, with his numbers I think in most other situations he would be in prevalent talks for the Hall of Fame. But he made a few plays early in his career that made him infamous in the eyes of most nationwide sports writers–the 2006 playoffs in which he fumbled the snap in Seattle, an interception in the 2007 playoffs against the Giants and more.

The truth is, Romo was the reason that the Cowboys were even in contention for the playoffs during their three straight 8-8 seasons from 2011 to 2013. But as great as he has been, he is clearly on the downside of his career and the Texans should not pursue him.

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The first reason the Texans should not pursue him is the presence of Brock Osweiler. Yes, Osweiler has been bad this season, but still it would be unwise to bring in Romo. Even though I was always a skeptic of the Osweiler signing, I feel like he deserves one more chance to prove that he is the guy. Not to mention that bringing in Romo would create a ton of payroll to the quarterbacks.

If Osweiler still stinks after 2017, the Texans can get rid of him. But bringing in Romo would keep the quarterback carosel going, with their fifth guy in five years–Matt Schaub in 2013, Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2014, Brian Hoyer in 2015, Osweiler in 2016 then Romo in 2017. A lack of consistency at quarterback will keep the Texans in the realm of mediocrity in which they already reside.

The second reason that the Texans should not bring Romo in is that he simply is done. He will be 37 at the start of next season and with a long history of injuries. So more likely that not he would not hold up, and when he did play in 2015 he was not very good. He threw seven interception in 3.5 games that he played in. The guy that used to run around and make plays on the run is gone.

Everyone declines at some point, and most of the time it is very quick. In 2013 Peyton Manning threw 55 touchdowns and in 2015 he was barely capable of throwing the ball more than 15 yards downfield with any velocity. Romo has hit that point.

In summary, give Osweiler one more year to prove himself. He has not been good this season and may not be the long term answer, but Romo is not either. He’s too brittle, the skill level is gone and it just doesn’t make sense for the team salary wise. Personally, I think Romo should just retire after this season and move on with his life. Do not risk his damaging his body and hindering the rest of his life any more.