The Associated Press
DALLAS–Tony Romo is retiring rather than trying to chase a Super Bowl with another team after losing his starting job with the Dallas Cowboys, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press today.
The all-time passing leader for the storied franchise is headed to the broadcast booth after spending weeks considering those offers, the person said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Romo’s decision hasn’t been announced.
Romo’s departure from Dallas has been the most likely outcome since November, when he returned after missing the first 10 weeks with a back injury.
He conceded the starting job to rookie Dak Prescott with the Cowboys in the middle of a franchise-record 11-game winning streak.
Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones told Romo before free agency opened that the team would release him to give him a chance to continue his career with another contender.
But Dallas decided at the last minute to try to generate interest in a trade.
That move gave Romo more time to consider retirement.
Romo, who was signed through 2019, had a $14-million base salary and a $24.7-million salary cap hit for the Cowboys this season.
The franchise leader with 34,183 yards passing and 248 touchdowns, Romo never parlayed his regular-season success into deep playoff runs the way Hall of Famers and multiple Super Bowl winners Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman did before him.
Romo was 78-49 as the starter in Dallas, but just 2-4 in the post-season, with no road victories and no trips to the NFC championship game for a proud franchise that is one of just three teams that hasn’t played for the NFC title the past 21 seasons.
His playoff debut a little more than 10 years ago illustrated the playoff struggles ahead when Romo infamously flubbed the snap on what could have been a winning field goal in Seattle.
A year later, the Cowboys lost their playoff opener to the N.Y. Giants as the No. 1 seed in the NFC–a defeat that stung even more for fans because Romo went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico during the bye week with several teammates.
Romo didn’t help his perception after the 2008 season finale–a 44-6 loss at Philadelphia that kept Dallas out of the playoffs–when he infamously said, “If this is the worst thing that will ever happen to me, then I’ve lived a pretty good life.”
As time passed, Romo seemed to understand why that quote struck a nerve for followers of “America’s Team.”
And he gave them the only playoff victories for the Cowboys since their last Super Bowl title following the 1995 season.
The most recent post-season win–in the wild-card round against Detroit–came during the last season that Romo was the full-time starter in 2014.
The next season, he missed 12 games with a twice-broke left collarbone as the Cowboys went first-to-worst at 4-12.
