The Ringer NFL Show - Romo's Retirement With Kevin Clark, Bryan Curtis, and Mike Lombardi (Ep. 92)

Episode Date: April 4, 2017

The Ringer's Robert Mays and Kevin Clark break down the retirement of Tony Romo (01:00), scenarios that could possibly bring him back to the field (03:00), and his legacy (20:00). Bryan Curtis then calls in to weigh in on Romo's future in the booth (29:30) and former Dallas Cowboys in the media (34:00). Then, 'GM Street' host Mike Lombardi joins the show to talk about the team most disappointed by the retirement news (40:00), where the Texans go from here (41:30), and the effects of Romo's decision on the Cowboys (47:40). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Ringer and subscribe. Download the Tune in app and start listening today. Tune in, your everything audio app. To The Ringer NFL show. My name is Robert Mays. I'm a writer at The Ringer. And well, here we go. It's Tony Romo Day. We've been waiting for this for a while. We're going to be welcomed by both Brian Curtis and Michael Lombardi a little bit later to talk about the wide-ranging implications of Tony Romo's decision. But before we do that, joining me on the other line. It's Kevin Clark. Kevin, how are you? It's a bittersweet day, Robert. We were going to do this. We're going to hit some kind of news and notes before digging into the rest of our draft series. And then I woke up to a phone call from Ben Glickman saying that Tony Romo is no longer playing

football and it's going to be a broadcaster. So I think that's the first news and note we should hit here. It's the only news and note. Here's my thing on this is that I understand, you know, good for Tony and all that. I wanted to recklessly speculate about where he was going for like two months. I wanted to recklessly speculate about where he was going. I wanted to reconcile a mat like seeing him in the uniform. form. I wanted to see what we thought on how good that team could be. I want all of those things

to be the Texans. And I'm slightly disappointed that they didn't get to happen. But this is also a fascinating outcome. Texans are going to reach out to Phil Sims. So, all right, we're going to get into Romo. So let's just start there. I wrote about this just now. It'll go up in by the time you guys hear this podcast. It'll be up, obviously. But I said that the two places where this fallout matters most in a football world are in Dallas and then in Houston. Because the Texans kind of needed this. I don't know how all in they were willing to go on it, but if they weren't willing to go after it pretty hard,

they were kidding themselves. My favorite John McLean, the great B-writer for the Texans, The Eastern Chronicle, just tweeted out he does not see Cutler or Kaepernick coming to Houston, which means they will go with Tom Savage, with Brandon Whedon as the backup. That is why this matters to the Texas.

That exact tweet. Yeah, it's not going to be good. I mean, at this point, if you're the Texas, don't you just have to draft a guy in the second round, I guess, and just hope for the best. Yeah, you do. Unfortunately for you, your second round pick this year is when you still have. Next year, it is not.

Yeah. No, I just think you just take a guy, Bill O'Brien at some point has to be the quarterback guru, right? At some point he has to cash in on the quarterback guru thing. Yeah, and when you consider the rest of that roster, they do have a sense of urgency. And I do feel like, you know, we talked about this going in, the idea of a mystery team and who,

goopy out there for Romo. I thought there weren't as many options as there would be for a quarterback of this caliber, just based on what had gone on in the league in the last two years. You know, so many teams had drafted a quarterback high that needed one. There aren't that many franchises that either don't have a quarterback in place or don't have a plan there. Okay. And Houston was really the lingering one. Okay. So I think this opens up another scenario, Robert. And it's when I'm writing about this for the ranger.com. also be up by the time the listeners go to the ringer.com.

This now opens up the scenario. It's not him choosing between Houston and Denver, who are, I think, somewhat fringe contenders at this point. It's choosing between any team that has an injury. Yeah. I mean, if Minnesota has Teddy Bridgewater this year instead of last year, they don't trade for San Bradford. They call Tony Romo.

Yeah. What happens if, in Oakland, in Atlanta, One of those really stacked contenders. What if they have a quarterback injury in the preseason? And it screws with their plans. You think Tony Romo, I understand why Tony Romo is doing this. I understand that getting the number one broadcast gig is a huge commitment. But if he gets a call, I don't want to speculate on injuries.

But if a absolute contender calls him and says, you want to join a stacked offense on August 1st, how does he say no to that? I agree. I feel like that's going to be in play. And what if that stack contender is the Dallas Cowboys? Can you imagine if Dak gets hurt? Or if he's bad, if he's bad, if he's bad. What if Jack Prescott throws three interceptions in his first game?

I know. I know. And that's why it's going to be interesting to me what the Cowboys end up doing with his contract. Like, do they release him or do they keep him on that reserve slash retired list where it's not as if he'll have the. freedom to sign with anyone he wants if somebody gets hurt. How they end up handling that is going to be interesting to me. It's going to be great because I think Jerry sees this.

He will see the sort of chess game that could play out in August. Sam Bradford got a one and a four. I know. Urgency matters. You get into a situation. I mean, I just, I feel like Jerry is going to realize that in August there could be, you know, what if Pittsburgh, what if Ben goes down, you know? I mean, I just think there's a million.

scenarios and Jerry's not going to just let Romo sign, do the Roger Clemens thing and sign for $25 million on September 1st. If you're, Tony, if you're Jerry Jones, in a way, this is kind of the best outcome because you don't have to play the, oh, well, he's screwing Tony. He's not letting him go where he wants. He's not letting him be mobile. He's not letting, you know, he's not doing what he said he was going to do in Romo's best interests. But now you don't have to. He's got a job. So if you're trying to get an asset for him eventually, this might be the best possible way for that to happen. Did you see the tweet from Damon Hack of the Golf channel today that Damon once asked him, once asked Tony what he would do after playing? And Tony said, I want to cover the NFL and golf for Sports Illustrated.

I mean, I didn't know that. Tony wants to write. He wants to write, yeah. You got to start in preps. You got to start covering high school football there, Tony. We're going out the ladder. That is, let's, I just want to put this out there right now. I tweeted after this happened. about how it seems like the best route to being a color commentator is just to be a fantastic Cowboys quarterback. That's all you need. So good luck, J-School kids. I understand that color commentators are former players.

It was a joke. The joke being, it's that easy. Just be a legendary Cowboys quarterback. Anybody can do it. No one can do it. He should, this is a great job for him. I am looking forward to him doing it. I can't wait for the golf people to get mad when he inevitably calls the Masters.

Those are the people who are going to get mad. The NFL people don't care. That's a good point. We're used to this. We're used to this. But the golf people are going to be so mad. Yeah, I know. They get mad at a lot of things.

All right. What would you say, if you were to handicap, how do you see the most likely comeback scenario being? Would it be, DAC gets injured? Would it be contender? You know, if you were to say he comes back and the most likely option is blank, you would say what? So here's what I'd say.

I think that obviously the most, likely scenario. If every quarterback in the league were to get hurt, Dallas would be the one he'd come running back to quickest, right? I mean, that's not even a conversation. Yeah. I was listening to Ben and Skin, who are on the ticket in Dallas, who I go on there, every

once in a while, they're really smart guys. They were playing some audio from Romo in May about how he was talking about the idea of going and playing for another team and why it just wasn't very attractive in the sense that you play your entire career in one place and globbing on to another franchise.

right at the end to win a championship just doesn't have as much meaning. And he seemed genuine about it. And that's kind of what I'm saying, is that Dallas, he would go do that. The bar to come back would be so much lower than it would be anywhere else. Outside of that, how good would they have to be? What is the worst offense he would be willing to come back and be a part of? I mean, I just don't see any scenario. I mean, look, New England's not going to call.

Yes. Atlanta might, if it's early enough in the training case. camp, Oakland might. I mean, I don't know. What if Ryan Tannahill goes down? Would he join the Dolphins? That's what I would love to see. I would almost guarantee that the dolphins with Matt Moore,

who's a long time established there, would not make that phone call very quickly. All of these scenarios are hinging on this happening early in training camp. Yeah. He's not going to happen on October 3rd. Unless it's a situation where he knows the coaching staff, or, you know, it's a former assistant he worked under or whatever. You can't learn a new system after training camp.

That's just not possible. That's how you get, you know, some of the, you know, some of these, like, Texans quarterbacks we've seen who, you know, sign in December. I don't know. San Bradford wasn't too bad last year, man. But he was at least in training camp. It was at the tail end, I know.

I mean, but he played, he was on the roster for 16 games. Sean Hill started the first game and then Bradford started, what, the remaining 15? Yeah, he got there two weeks. weeks are early. Yeah, he at least had a little bit of time. Because the thing is, you have to have a little bit of wiggle room because you can't learn the playbook and learn the defense you're playing on Sunday. That's too much. That's why Bradford didn't play the first game. So you at least have to be there essentially eight or nine days early. Yeah. That would be the thing. But I'm to say, I mean, that seems like a weird window, like the amount of factors that would have to fall into

place. But it happens every year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just, I mean, there's a lot of scenarios in which he could come back. I just, I just think that he's going to have to get a sort of godfather offer. It has to be the perfect marriage of situation, offense, Super Bowl contention status, and tons of money. The team will have to have cap space. He's not coming back for $2.5 million. And here's the thing. We're having this conversation.

And it's like, oh, well, you know, it would have to be this and it'd have to be that. But he would have had a better, I mean, not money-wise, but if he had been cut, he could have gone wherever he. He wanted, and he's choosing not to do that. Right. Like, I feel like we're underestimating just how cushy what just happened to him is right now. This is a guy. I just wrote this today. As soon as I heard the news today, did you see that video we posted when he joined Instagram

with him and his kids? Yes. That's the first thing I thought of. If you're Tony Romo and they're about to give you that amount of money to go be the number one color guy in CBS instantly, and you have those kids and the opportunity to play football with them in the backyard and not against the Giants, it would take a lot for me to come back, like a hell of a lot.

Yeah, I mean, here's the other scenario laid out in this column. What about a sort of Roger Clemens situation, sort of end-stage Roger Clemens? That could mean a lot of things, by the way. But, no, yeah, exactly. Where are you going with this? Specifically, the sort of contracts he got at the end of his career. What if a lesser team was like,

we have so much damn cap space. We have no talent. Our fan base hates us. It's probably five or six of those teams right now. Why don't we just sign Tony, why don't we call up Tony Romo and offer him $25 million? How much do you think he's making it, CBS?

Not $25 million. But is it, but it's a lot. Five million? Just not broadcast, five or six million? Okay, sure. Okay, fine. This is not like a, oh, Tony Romo was at the tail end. He was thinking about walking away.

He can still do it, no problem. The last time Tony Romo ended an NFL season on the field, he did it with two broken bones in his back. I understand that. I'm just saying if someone calls you up and says, here's $30 million, if the Niners tomorrow were like, well, we got all this cap space. We don't really know what we're doing. Might as well sign Tony Romo.

I mean, I'm just saying you are hanging up on $30 million. I'm not saying they would do this. I'm just laying out another potential scenario, which is he gets a Godfather offer just financially from a team that's not a great situation. Tony Romo's cap hits over the last four years were 12,000, 12 million, 15 million, and 21 million. Before that, it wasn't quite that ridiculous, but it wasn't bad. 5, 5, 12, 6 and a half, 8. Tony Romo's made a lot of money playing football.

It just feels like the difference between 25 million to get your brains beat in and 5 million to sit there in a booth isn't even a conversation. Again, I don't know what $25 million looks like or feels like, so I can't necessarily speak to that. But it doesn't feel like the gap is that large considering what he's made and what his post-career earning options are. By the way, another team, pretty good team with a lot of cap space, the Colts, the Bucks, the Bengals. A lot of cap space there. The Packers? He would come to the Packers, right? That's an interesting one.

That's one that you really don't think about, but he, I mean, that's where you are. Capsing Capspace. Burlington, Wisconsin, man. Who knows what could draw him back there? Yeah. It's going to be fascinating. If one of those guys goes down, if one of the big guys goes down, and if you're a team that thinks you're right on the brink,

Pittsburgh, Green Bay, whatever, you have to make the phone call, I think. I don't know if he's picking it up. Based on everything that just happened in the last 24 hours and the possible scenario he walked away from of, every team in the league that's quarterback needy wants you, you get to pick. he didn't want that.

So him wanting this other thing is just, I feel like the barriers are way higher than people think they are. I understand that. But I also understand, you know, this happens all the time. If you privately talk to broadcasters, 99% of them, including John Lynch, the thing that disappoints them about broadcasting is that there's no competition.

And they went from having a goal and a target every day and saying, I have to run this extra two miles and do this, set of weights because I want to beat X, Y, and Z person, having motivation, and then it all stops. And they can't really grasp it. And that's why so many of them, you know, a lot of these broadcasters, Robert, end up, like, on the side coaching high school football because they want to.

But I'm saying that when Tony Romo gets in the booth on September 10th or whatever it is, and he starts looking at that field, I just, I think it eats at you if you know you have gas in the tank. So I think that this is a sign that either he didn't like situations, he really didn't like the situations, or his body just can't take it anymore. And I know, and the eating at you thing, here's what I'm trying to do. I'm overcorrecting a little bit because I was putting so much in that as I was trying to get into his head about why he would have wanted to come back. In my mind, if you're Tony Romo, you've had such a fantastic career. And we can talk about, we're going to talk about that in a minute. But the notion that you

would have that image of you getting helped off the field in Seattle be the last thing people remember about your NFL career. It was just impossible for me to understand. And now it seems like he's willing for that to be okay. And so I'm trying to not think of it that way anymore. But you're right. When you actually get to August, when it really starts and you get closer to it, and it really is nipping at your heels, maybe it's a different factor. But I don't want to put so much credence in, man, it has to eat at you because wouldn't this way of going out knowing what he probably could still do if healthy eat at him too? That's why I'm saying that it leaves the door open for his return.

Yeah. I mean, it does. But then why isn't he playing now? Then why isn't he just pursuing it now? I mean, because he looked at the Texans and he looked at the Broncos and said either this isn't worth it or I don't like these coaches or I don't like this team. I mean, I just, I, there's something going on here. Maybe he just wants to go to the freaking masters tomorrow.

Yeah, I get it. I mean, I just think there's a lot in play that I'm trying to speculate less about Tony Romo's state of mind because that's what I had done for like four months. And it feels like I was completely off the mark. But as we get closer, we see it all the time. Me. You're right, buddy. Good job by you.

That was literally, and I want to make the listener aware of this, we did a thing in November right after he announced his concession to Dak Prescott about where we're, Romo is going to go. And I said television. I guessed Fox and was wrong. That was simply because I was late responding to the email and everybody else had picked something. And I was just like, eh. I remember that vividly. I was just like, I don't really want to like say the Jets. I'm just going to say television. Yeah. And you're right. And I don't blame them. Again, I, that video stuck with me. I was like, that looks like a delightful life. I mean, like, I can't blame the guy for just wanted to go do that.

Like, that kid is way cuter than Olivier Vernon. I would much rather share a feel with that small child. Do you think he says that to his child? You are so much cute than Olivier Vernon. I don't know if he's saying it, but I guarantee he's thinking it. Having those kids chase him around is probably much easier than Damon Harrison. I know I would think that. Yeah, no, I mean, I agree with that.

I just think that these guys, I just think the wiring necessary to get to that point in life where you're 36 years old and you're a great NFL quarterback still, that doesn't just turn off. Yeah, I agree. And that's what I thought was going to be the number one factor in him playing this season because that's how it was. But we'll see. Nothing would surprise me. And even though he's walking away from football, it took 10 seconds for the first report to come out from Jane Slater, NFL network saying that if something went wrong with the Cowboys and they needed him, he'd be back. Like, that's how long it took. Also, it was instant. Also, So, like, Jane Slater, the way it was reported, it was a great report.

It was if they really need him. Yes. What? Yes. There's only one scenario. And it's it. It's that Dak Prescott is incapable of playing. Yes.

And so it's not like, I mean, it's not like a million things. This isn't like the movie King Ralph or like 45 people have to die before John Gibman is king. It's like one thing happens. And it's like, got a 10% chance of happening because that's the NFL. How many guys would have to die for you to be the quarterback of the California? boys um for me a lot of people a lot i'm not i did not play a quarterback in high school would that matter i mean what to what degree would that matter well no i mean i i don't think

i i cannot throw a ball very far so it's you it's like millions of people would have to die okay all right that's that makes sense then so you're eliminating all former high school quarterbacks from Earth before you get a chance to actually go do this? Yeah, yeah, no, I, 100%, yes. And I'm not very fast. I mean, there's more scenarios in which, like, maybe like tight end or something, you know? Sure, I understand that. Hey, hey, if you had to get on the field for one play, if there was like a George Plumpton situation,

they said, you have to be on the field for one NFL play, you choose what position? Long snapper, done. Longsnappers get the shit out of them. No, they don't. It gets pretty bad. I've heard some stories. That's my goal. Long snapping on a field goal because they can't hit you.

What about like safety? Because you sort of author your own. That's a good point. You're more involved. You're more involved and you can just do the thing where you intentionally misread the play so you're on the other side. Sure. Yeah.

The quarterback's eyes. He looked that way. What was I supposed to do? Yeah. I read it. I read it all the way. He was bird dog and his receiver. Let's get into the conversation that we probably

should have, even though everyone in the world is going to be having it in the next 24 hours. Tony Romo, if his career is over, like, how are you going to think about Tony Romo? Romo's legacy, I think, people will look back and they'll think he was a good but not great quarterback. I saw a staff the other day that said that Danny White made three conference championship games with the Cowboys. I think he'll be on par with that. I think he'll be remembered as giving us a lot of entertainment, especially in those 4 p.m. games, but I think that he will, not because he didn't make a Super Bowl be considered a part of this great generation of quarterbacks and probably the greatest quarterback generation of all time.

I think he's going to be a little behind the Manning and the Brady's and those guys. I don't think we're going to look back and say Tony Romo was a great, great quarterback like we do with Troy Aikman because he won the Super Bowls or obviously Roger Stalbath. So I think he's never going to be in sort of the Cowboy Super Legends Club. He's just going to be in the Cowboys Legends Club. Yeah, I think because they never cleared that bar. Whether one reason or another, they never did. Those early Cowboys teams, like 07, 2009, he was phenomenal.

I mean, he was so, so good on those teams that didn't have a ton to work with. Miles Austin and Roy Williams. They weren't these stacked groups that really set him up for success, and he just kind of stepped in and did well. He was the guy that made those offenses go, and for whatever reason, they just never got over the hump in the playoffs. and that matters. I've said this before and I still maintain it.

I think it kind of sucks that he had that early part of his career and then we come back to the second half. 2010 was like a little bit of a pivot point. He missed those 10 games and then they went through those 8 and 8 stretches. And then that 14 season and watching them build that offense

into what it was with that line and then him getting hurt these next two is just kind of tragic in a way to me because I would have loved to see these three years of Tony Romo. the Cowboys were a phenomenon last year. I mean, they took over the NFL in every way, as far as we were talking about who we were watching,

they were a national TV game every single week. It wouldn't have been different if Tony Romo was a quarterback. I mean, they would have been a similar team and a similar offense. And him not getting to do that, I just feel it kind of sucks. And I always will. I think that in a way, his career is a little bit unfinished. And that's why, again, I just thought this wasn't going to be the final note. I think now, now that we see the end result, the assuming this is the end result,

the Des Bryant catching Green Bay becomes one of the greatest what-ifs in the history of football. Yeah. That is 100% true. Because that team absolutely could have won the Super Bowl. And then there's no chance he loses his job to DAC. I mean, they're not going to draft DAC. I mean, there's a million scenario. Look, the whole thing.

I'm going the other way, though. he could have retired if they win that and he that 2015 season happens maybe he walks away after last season yeah I mean after the 15th season after two seasons ago because at that point what else do you need I mean you did it you had that moment

you had the one it all broke right situation that you've been waiting for your entire career yeah I mean it's because they I mean the game that they could kind of arrive that season was in Seattle when they went in they beat the Seahawks it was like oh shit this Cowboys team for real. And the idea that they could have done it again. I mean, I don't think anyone would have precluded them from making that happen. Yeah. No, I mean, I just, I think that you could just

follow the threads of what happens if Des catches that pass for a long time now. And I think that, I think we're going to get a very good column out of it in five years, just revisiting all of the different scenarios that played out because of that. Yeah. And whatever happens with Zach, what he eventually becomes. You look at Romo and I wrote about some of the numbers today, the efficiency stuff is crazy. You know, four guys had a better completion. percentage since the merger. I think three guys had a better quarterback rating. Three guys had more yards per, four guys had more yards per attempts.

And these names are Steve Young, Kurt Warner, Aaron Rogers. Those are the names ahead of him. But at the same time, I think that when I'm thinking about Kurt Warner, it'll never be about efficiency numbers, how good of a quarterback he was in, you know, these very technical scientific ways. He was enthralling. Yep. I mean, he was absolutely captivating in these just spin out of stuff and make things happen

on the run, extending plays down the field. I linked to that throw he had against the Texans in 2014, where he spun away from Watt and hit Terrence Williams, so like 40-yard touchdown. Like, not that many guys in the entire league could ever make that play, and he seemed to do shit like that all the time. The one thing I want to, you

talked about national television all the time. When we're talking about Romo's legacy, I think part of it will be he was part of some of the greatest entertainment of one of the golden arrows in NFL television. I mean, ratings exploded in the last 15 years. It is almost unbelievable how many people watch the NFL,

especially in comparison to any other television show, which is basically down because of the nature of television in this decade. He is a reason that these 4 PM games, you know, get close, have a big play at the end, spin out of some plays, you know, have the late drive. I mean, he gave us unending entertainment for a decade. Yeah. And that's among all the quarterbacks I've watched recently, he's the guy that's been one of the most consistently entertaining. I mean, he was very, very good, but he was also in the Wilson Rogers camp of, like, make stuff happen just out of nothing every once in a while. And there aren't that many quarterbacks who can walk that line, who can be excellent improvisers and also be a guy that

you can just hang your offense on all season. That is a tough needle to thread, and he seemed to do it all the time. And again, we're going to come back to playoff slips, one missed catch, and a body that ended up failing him as the things that probably took away that person from being the best version of himself he could have been. Totally agree. I mean, it's, it's kind of a bummer what's happening. Yeah. I mean, again, Tony Romo is about to be the number one guy on the CBC. He's about to be the color guy in the number one CBS team, make a ton of money and never have to worry about breaking his back again. It seems like the, guy's got a pretty gorgeous life. It's not all terrible, but I do feel for the man as a football

player and as somebody who clearly cared a lot about his craft and, you know, you could see it, you'd see the emotion in his face when he did that concession video earlier this fall. Like, this guy, that clearly means something to the guy. And I guarantee you this isn't what he envisioned when he thought about the end of his career. I 100% agree. I mean, the fact they never got to a Super Bowl is almost incredible. among the players from the last decade, is there a better quarterback who didn't go to Super Bowl? Who didn't go to the Super Bowl?

Who didn't play in a Super Bowl? Do you know Smith? I guess even won a Super Bowl, because every quarterback who's been to a Super Bowl is essentially one one. Yeah. I mean, I'm trying to think here. I mean, you know, look, there's a second tier of quarterbacks to have him been to the Super Bowl,

and he's above all of them. And I'm talking about guys like Matthew Stafford. that sort of that's where i mean joe flacco won a super bowl i know yeah that's what i mean i'm not talking about joe flacco with with stab this sort of b list of NFL quarterbacks i'm my thought is if i had one guy i'd throw out a guy that never hasn't gotten to play for one then in my mind has had heights as a quarterback that reached tony romos it's rivers yeah that would be the only other guy i would throw out there yeah but everybody else that has reached romos just overall quality and effect on games week in and week out rothel

Berger, you know, Rogers, Manning, Breeze, Brady, every single one of them is won a Super Bowl. And he's the only one that hasn't even gotten to play for one outside of Philip Rivers. Yeah, Romo in Rivers definitely. And I'm not seeing a great path for old Phil to make one at this point. You don't say. I'm not buying in. Well, you know, that's tough. That makes me sad, almost as sad as it makes me about the end of the Tony Romo era.

That's it. All right, buddy. Thanks for doing this. This was good. All right. I'll see you, boys. Major League Baseball is finally back. As the new season gets underway, the Ringer Podcast Network has baseball fans covered with the Ringer MLB show, playing exclusively on the Tunein app for the month of April. On top of that, the Ringer Podcast Network has partnered with Tune in

to give baseball fans a free 30-day trial of Tune-in premium to listen to every live home call from every MLB game around the league. Catch the Ringer MLB show only on Tune in during April. And with your premium subscription, listen to live MLB games on Tune. tune in as well. Just go to tunein.com slash ringer and subscribe. Download the tune in app and start listening today. Tune, your everything audio app. And we're joined now by Brian Curtis, who has pretty much the most interesting skill set to possibly bring to this conversation.

I guess the first thing I'd ask you, buddy, how are you feeling? I mean, just as a Cowboys fan and what has gone on in your life over the last decade, this cannot be an easy day to parse. Yeah, a few tears wiping away, you know, pacing around the room. Thinking of poor Tony Romo. No, it's a really funny thing, parse, because we all know what Tony Romo was and we all know what he wasn't. It's kind of like, you know, it's not your best friend moving away. It's kind of the guy you really liked and you were really getting known and you were hoping

you'd become best friends with moving away. But you never really got there. He said, oh, man, there's a lot of potential there. there's just this relief of month long. He's Tony manager. There's a sinking feeling to me, not a sinking feeling, but just a specter of what might have been over pretty much the entire Tony Romo era,

like you just said. I mean, whether it's the DAT catch, or the does catch on its own, whether it's just how good he was on those early teams and just where all went wrong during the playoffs every single year seemingly. He was so good and he never got just that final finishing moment. And now without some,

something pretty incredible happening. It just doesn't feel like it will. But like you said, there's some relief. But I think we've already, people have already started cracking the door open for whatever may happen this fall. Like the idea that if they really need him, he'll be back. It's the insanity is probably not going to stop. Yeah.

I have this like, right. You know, he cuts like on a zip line out of the press box at AT&C Stadium. He comes down to the 50. He's going to do it well back press. press that lips off the field and wins that elusive game. Yeah, I mean, it's going to end perfectly, right? I just think that was never going to happen. All last year, talking ourselves,

maybe DAC gets hurt for like two series during the playoffs. And Romo comes in, or maybe he finishes up a game, kind of has a Frank Reich, you know, playoff moment. It was never going to happen that one, where he just sort of went away and now you have to deal with it. Outside of just a major deck injury, I feel like the bar to him coming back is so high. I try it with Kevin about this.

he turned down a chance to look at the league and pick upon getting released. And now it's if someone gets hurt, he'll come back. I feel like he has shown his hand here. The amount of money that a team would have to throw at him, I don't even know what the number would possibly be. It just feels like he turned down the best possible set of circumstances to continue his career in favor of doing something that I wouldn't blame anyone for choosing to do. I mean, it's funny because I think Peyton Manning last year,

probably had a choice between that team. That's the only deciding me. Do I want to go somewhere and just grind out a couple more steep? And you know what? I don't want to be one of those terribly plagued Tony Romo. You know, the guy who new analytics came in and saved him a little bit. It's the way he was going to end with him because Tony Romo didn't want it in the same way. He didn't want to rearrange his life in the same way.

He didn't want to kill his life in the same way that Peyton Manning and Tom Brady wanted to, right? I mean, it's just football. It's not that you didn't want to win as badly as they do. I don't think that's just too easy. But I just don't think, you know, and so I think walking away saying, you know what, Texas, nah, I'm okay. And going and becoming a broadcast makes perfect sense to me.

I mean, that sounds like Tony Romo to me. So let's get into the broadcast thing because obviously, you know, you write a ton about this for the ringer. I feel like you have some, you certainly have some insight about it. Is this surprising to you? Is this surprising that from day, he's going to get the number one color job on CBS to replace Phil Sims. I would think that's pretty surprising to go into that kind of spotlight.

Yes, there's a high degree of difficulty to calling games. You know, I think a lot of God, you know, and he's been, he's had not a couple of not a great couple of years here. But yeah, I mean, that would really surprise me because it's just a huge promotion. On the other hand, that I was writing in the ringer today, if you're an ex-caboy, you are going to get a giant, you know, high-profile TV thing. When you retire, all you have to be is pretty good, you know? Right? Like, Troy, but Troikman is number one guy on Fox. Michael Irvin. Emmett Smith was on television.

That's shocking, right? Darren Woodson is on TV. You know, all these guys, like, they're just cowboys everywhere. So on that end, it doesn't surprise me because they're thinking, oh, wait, Dallas Cowboys, that's the one thing we don't have on CBS. And now we're going to get one of the booth, potentially, with our number one team. I tweeted that all you needed to do to be the number one color guy was to be a former Cowboys quarterback and that all broadcast students should take note. And people seem to think I thought broadcast students got color jobs, which I, this is weird to imagine, but I have seen a football broadcast before.

It was a bad joke. That's going to be a new class at Missouri and Cherokee as you want to try to learn how to be a broadcast. But say, sorry, that's the quarterback. That's all you got to do. Just go be like one of the five best statistical quarterbacks of your generation. It's not that hard. There you go, right? And it's true, like Don Meredith.

You know, Don Meredith was the guy who couldn't get the Cowboys over the hump in the 60s, right? And, you know, it's pretty. How do you think he's going to do? I mean, do you feel like he's going to be well suited for this? Just imagining it, even beyond the, I think it's a tougher job than people think. I still just think about everything. I think he's going to be great at it. I mean, everything he's bringing to the table in terms of raw tools, I have no reason to think with time.

He's not going to be fantastic at this. I had conversations with him outside of a press company. say he can explain football really, really well, and he's really eager to do it, which is something we both know that football players don't get a chance to do a lot during, like, a huge press conference situation, right? The thing I think is biggest challenge is basically since Tony Romo lost to the Eagles nine years ago in this horrible week 17 game, we got beat by like 38 points and came out and told the Dallas press, this isn't the worst thing that's ever happened in my life.

he's been one of the most boring people on Earth. Yeah. Because he learned the hard way, right? He said, I'm never doing that again. I'm never being honest with the press again. And he's been this, I know, you know, you watch so many, you talk to so many of him for football players night and you watch more of their press conferences.

But even by that scale, Tony Murmo was pretty boring. And people think he's a zany, funny guy from the direct TV commercial. Man, I didn't see it. When did that happen? Like, maybe in 2006? but I think the thing that Hugh has to do, I agree with you, he has a really bright future in this, is just kind of unlearn, like a decade's worth of things, a bad, bad technique. It's like when we talk about these quarterbacks that have a bad motion, throwing motion

coming into the draft, like Tony's going to have to unlearn a lot of stuff. But once it gets past, then I think it's going to be pretty good. Yeah, and that's the thing is you kind of have to find this new middle ground of, I'm in my front of a microphone again, but I am no longer this previous iteration of myself. Like I get to be this new thing. I get to cultivate. But at the same time, you probably do have that knee-jerk reaction of, oh, I am in a public setting.

This is how I talk. And finding some sort of, you know, equilibrium between that is probably going to be tough. But I think he's going to get there. And I think when he does, it's going to be great. My other question to you, is there any other quarterback that you can possibly imagine that would never have played in a Super Bowl that would get this sort of attention a day, the fact that we're going to be going on an hour doing this today. A guy who won two playoff games and never played a Super Bowl?

I just can't imagine, right? I mean, first of all, if you told me about this hypothetical character, I would say he's probably a cowboy, just a ridiculous attention. Jerry Jones probably has something to do with that. He probably dated some high-profile people check and check. In Tony Romo's case, he probably, if he didn't have high-profile successes, He probably had high profile and notorious failures, check and check in Tony Romo's case. He probably played the major media market.

He probably played the NFD East. So he was in front of major media people. I mean, he kind of checks all those boxes, right? But it is still miraculous. Yes, that we care this much. I mean, even as a Cowboys fan, I'm just like, when you and I were put to at work this sporting, right? I was like, wait, did we do this a month ago?

Do we think about? We're still saying goodbye, you know? What happens when Tom Brady retired? But, you know, hey, I'm glad he's, I'm glad at least late in his career. At least people are treating him like this is a big event, but I don't think they would have, you know, four or five years ago. Yeah, I would not have a vision this when it came to pass. And now that it has, it's been a bizarre day for sure.

Brian, thank you for doing this. I couldn't imagine I'm doing it without you. So appreciate it and we'll talk to you soon. I'm going to go back to the crying room. Thanks, Robert. Thank you again, Brian. We really appreciate it. And we'll be back in a minute with Michael Lombardi.

And now we're welcome by Michael Lombardi because what is bringing everybody in today? because why not? This is fun. Mike, how you doing? I'm doing good, Robert. How are you? It's been a fun day. It's been a hectic day, but it's been a fun day. So we've hit on all these angles. Kevin and I talked about kind of how Romo will be remembered in a way. I talked about something similar to Brian Curtis before getting into the broadcast elements of it. I wanted to chat with you just, if you're the front offices involved in this situation,

where do you go from here? And I want to start with the teams that we had linked to Romo in the past. And that really is Denver, Houston, and everybody else. Among the NFL teams that kind of thought Romo might be in their plans, who do you think is the most bummed out today? One team. I mean, I think Houston's the only team, perhaps bummed out. Houston was lukewarm on Romo.

There was a period before the Combine where Houston wasn't going to do anything with Romo. And then sometime during the Combine things shifted. They were interested in Romo if he was released only not for trade, back and forth on Romo. they really wanted Paxton Lynch to have an opportunity to see if he could win the job. Because Jacksonville cried into Blake Bortles that they love Blake Bortals, but now that Tom Coughlin has come in, and certainly with Doug Marone as the head coach, that love of Blake Bortles isn't as strong as it was when David Caldwell was running the team.

It was lukewarm out was that television became really the serious contender for Romo, not the NFL. And I've talked about this with everybody else has been on today. I don't blame him for letting that seep in as a contender. It seems like a very viable path when you consider his age, his family situation, his health, all of those factors coming into play. This is not a shock. So when you look at Houston, if they were the team that had entertained him as an option, everything else, this is a playoff team that gave New England a very serious run

with Brock Osweiler playing a quarterback on television. I mean, like, that's what he was doing. He was playing the role of a quarterback. He looked like one. but he certainly wasn't one. Where do you go from here if you're the Texans when you have such a promising set of guys and really are kind of on the brink of doing something

if you figure out that position? ...themselves with the heist in Blake Oswald. I think making that move was the rock. Yes. Because the only way you get better, because I need a better hand, different than they were. This news really doesn't affect Houston long term.

It affects him a little bit in the short term. it doesn't affect him on the long term. They still need a long-term answer to quarterback, whether Romo was in their plans or not. You're dealing with a guy who lacks durability, who's 37 years old. So how could you play 10 games? Could you play?

There was a mystery that was involved there. So I think what Houston has to do is take a proactive approach in this draft. The fact that they like, now they like Tom Savage. They have liked Tom Savage all summer. They liked them more last summer than they did Brock Oswald.

Last summer, Savage would have won the job. And I think that's the missing link here. I think they learned to play with Savage. We're not counting that in this equation because young quarterback. And that, I mean, they like Tom Savage. They didn't like Tom Savage enough not to go out and sign Brock Osweiler. So as a if Romo got hurt for a game. I think, I think, look, if we go back and really analyze the Brock Oswald signing,

I think Rick Smith went ahead, kind of acted on his own as the general manager with O'Brien never met Brock Oswald. They never really, they kind of looked at the quarterbacks and where New Denver was trying to resign him. He was involved there. I think there was love in the building, whether it was George Gotti Love, who's no longer there, whether it was Billy O'Brien Love, who's for Savage. There was not a lot of, like, when they got Osweiler, they were like, we paid him $16 million. There wasn't a lot. And I talked to the coaches there, and there wasn't a lot of love. So my sense of it is, is yes, you're right. You can make that statement, but I think the general manager made this

more than a coaching. Sure, but the general manager, there's still the general manager. I mean, that's the thing. It's not as if the entire contingent that wanted Osweiler there and didn't think Savage was the guy is gone, even if the coaching staff did. So even if you feel you like certain elements of Savage, the organization made a very serious commitment to someone else as their long-term answer at quarterback. And the organization, in terms of the bodies, is still the same. So it would be hard to sit there and say, well, Tom Savage is our guy. And like you said, that's why I could also see them and wouldn't be surprised if they were proactive in the draft. If they came out and said, we know we need a new answer. My question to you is, what does that mean? When you're sitting at

25, do you try to go up and get somebody? Do you wait and do it at 25? Do you use a second round pick? How proactive do you feel like they have to be now that they don't have the long-term answer on the roster very clearly? I think they really just have to evaluate this year's draft and make a decision. It's Deshawn Watson, the guy, and then they've got to do their due diligence to see where he could go. Hey, it wouldn't surprise me if Deshaun Watson went to Jacksonville four. It wouldn't surprise me at all. It wouldn't surprise me if he slid the 12 or 13. So I think it's so early to know. I think you just got to do your due diligence. You've got to look at all the quarterbacks in the draft and you've got to make a decision. And you've got to have plan A,

plan B, and plan C. And you can't get married to just one because it's never going to go the way you think it's going to go. Yeah. And that's kind of a fool's errand on my part, just saying, what should they do? You should see how things unfold. But it just feels like them spending a first round pick on a quarterback isn't out of the question, nor should it be when you consider all the other factors in play with that roster right now? That's what they need. And look, the Patriots are not trading Garapolo. How are the market? Where can you find one? They like Savage. Okay, now maybe their actions don't demonstrate a love of Savage to satisfy everyone, but they do like Savage, so they know they have someone there. They have Brandon Wheaton on the team. I'm not sure. That'll work well. I've lived

that before. Good luck to them if they go in that direction. That won't work out. well, I can promise you how that's going to go. But the reality here is, the reality here is their number one team need is quarterback. And this draft, for whatever we think about this draft, has some players play quarterback. Now, could they play next season? I don't know. It's going to take some time. And if you're the Houston Texans, do you have an offense that can build around a young quarterback?

Maybe you can. You've got a good defense. You've got some skill players offensively. You know, but the one thing they've got to do is find a quarterback. and develop a quarterback for the future. It's what's going to make this franchise. So let's go from the Cowboys perspective just from a bit if we kind of concede that Houston was the team

that really had a chance and had built some sort of their future on this. If you're Dallas now, I talk about this with Kevin a little bit, in a way, isn't this the best possible scenario, the best possible path to you getting an asset for Tony Romo? Because now if you have him, I assume, and you can walk me through this, they'll put him on the reserve fast retired list, He'll be under contract with Dallas if you were to play.

So if we have a scenario like the Sam Bradford situation last year, and Romo becomes an option for one of these teams, it feels like the price for him in August for a potential contender is exorbitantly higher than it is right now for a team without that sense of urgency. Yes, and it'll be the right situation, the right team, and then you've got to ask yourself, are you really going to give up a high draft pick for a guy that's putting a Band-Aid on a cut,

quite a bit who hasn't conditioned in the offseason. I mean, these are a lot who has a durability issue, who's not proven he could take a hit in the first preseason game he played in Seattle. I think in theory that sounds sure does. Now remember, if he stays on the reserve retire list, once the training deadline

passes, to get him off that list, he has to go through the waiver wire. So that mutes the whole value of being there if they wanted to do something with them late in the season. If they actually wanted to bring him back off reserve retired, or just let them go to another team.

I think in theory, Robert, that looks good. Older player doesn't spend the whole offseason getting ready to play football. The likelihood of having a – you're Tony Romo. You're a team that, you know, is close. You're thinking to yourself, do I give up a huge asset for maybe – I think you're making a situational decision when maybe perhaps you'd be better off with whomever your backup might be and go with that.

I mean, Romo, for me, I love Romo as a play. I think Romo was really worked out the way I think it's healthy. I'm the wrong guy to ask. I'm the wrong guy to ask. I know, I know, but just if you're, when you, you know, Springsteen has a great line in one of his songs, is sometimes I can't tell my courage for my desperation. And when you're looking for a court and you've lost your starter, you're no longer courageous, you're desperate.

And even you to see the value of J. Color. Yeah, that's been my life for a decade. When I was desperate, I saw the value in J. Keller. Trust me. I know that life all too well. We all do. We all do. We all convince ourselves that's being courageous when in reality we're desperate. But that's my point. It's the alternative to what do you do to Romo. Look, would I sign Colin Kaepernick or would I go after Romo? I'm like you, I'm no fan of Capernick. Okay. The guy, after 10 yards, his completion percentage drops below 50%. Okay. He no longer really runs effectively with the football. I don't think. think he's a very good quarterback. I talked about that on my podcast. People debate it's over because of his kneeling for the national anthem. I think that's not true. However, I think it's his tape that's

bad. But if I was in that situation, would I sign Kaepernick or would I trade for Romo? I think even I would trade for Kaepernick at that point because at least he's healthy and I know what I'm getting. Romo's a wild card. Yeah, that's the thing. It's not as if even Sam Bradford for all of his faults, and I know he hasn't had the clean bill of health, but he's been around for the last couple of seasons. That's more of a known quantity as far as getting a decent amount of games out of him than it is with Romo not having played football for two months. I 100% agree. Even if it's a lesser quantity at its best, it is still more of a known quantity than you'd be getting with Romo all for two months. There's no denying that. I just think that when teams are in that scenario,

somebody could talk themselves into it. The price we saw for Brad for last year, it just wouldn't shock me. And that's what I would ask you. Do you think we will see Tony Roma play in the NFL again? And I've taken the last, you want to be the best broadcaster you can be. You're going to probably a really difficult job where everybody's eyes are going to be on you. You better try to make that. You can't have one toe in the water there. You've got to dive all the way in. You've got to make that the best you can possibly be. And I think that that's what I would do. Tony Romo's at a point in his life. Does you really want to, you know, Carol Edison, Nashville, and do that for eight weeks, knowing it's a short-term.

Something that quarterbacks that cut it out, this CBS deal is really going to be extremely lucrative. Sources tell me it's really lucrative. So with probably more guaranteed money, and he would get, had he signed with the Houston, Texas as a free agent, over the course of the CBS deal, I don't see why he would go. I tend to agree.

I mean, as I keep looking at it, and all of the thoughts and all of the motivations that I kind of envisioned, that would bring him back. Him making this choice makes me think that what you just said matters more. And again, it's hard to blame the guy. It's really not a bad way to go out if you're going to go out. And listen, sit in that booth and not having those dudes chase you around. It seems way better to me than worried about when your next back injury is going to come.

This makes all the sense in the world. I just know that we've seen crazier stuff happen as far as injuries go and when teams do get desperate. So we'll see what happens down the road. but for now I tend to agree with you. I think this is it. And if it is, man, it has been one heck of a ride. Yeah, no, and I think he has to be really careful, too. Look, John Gruden goes into other teams in the NFCE,

which of the Washington Redskins. Yep. Tony Romo has to, if he's going to go visit teams on Saturday and Sunday, and he thinks he may come back into football, you know, he's going to assure those teams he's not. And, you know, he needs their information. He needs them to trust it. He needs to be able to say,

look, I'm done. I'm done. And trust me, I'm done. And I've given this a lot of thought. I've spent a lot of time. I'm done. And I think to me, that helps him become a better announcer because at this point in his life, becoming a better announcer has more longevity, more financial success. Listen, it didn't work out too bad for Tony and Romo. This could have gone a lot worse as we got near the end of it. So, all right, Mike, thank you very much for doing this. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Robert. Appreciate it. Thanks. Bye, Mike. Thank you to everybody for listening. This was fun.

We'll be back next week with more draft coverage as we were planning on originally, but again, sometimes things take precedence. Really appreciate you guys listening, as always, and we'll talk to you soon.