The Dallas Cowboys are keeping their fingers crossed with Tony Romo. After yet another collarbone injury ended his season in 2015, the Cowboys are hoping that the quarterback can get healthy and return as the franchise star next year. Confident that Romo still has plenty of playing time left in him, the quarterback will be visiting with some specialists in order to get healthy and lead Dallas once again.
According to ESPN's Ed Werder, Romo will have offseason surgery to insert a plate into his collarbone in hopes that the move prevents further injury to the area. The surgery would put Romo on a six to eight week recovery plan and will make him healthy by the time training camp starts for 2016. This is the third time that Romo has broken his collarbone and the Cowboys are trying to prevent the injury from completely ending his career altogether. Romo is confident things get worked out.
"I think we know which way we're siding and we've had exhaustive discussions about it," Romo said, via ESPN.com. "Really it's just about being there for your teammates. If I play, I know what I mean to our team. I just need to do everything in my power to make sure I'm on the football field."
One thing is clear, the Cowboys need to find a backup to Romo who could eventually replace him. According the Dallas Morning News, despite all of the hints that owner Jerry Jones might be interested in Robert Griffin III or Johnny Manziel, the backup quarterback will be found in the first draft, but not likely in the first round. The Cowboys have the No. 4 pick and could use that to make a move for someone like Jared Goff or Paxton Lynch, but they will also draft early in the second round.
That means they could get Carson Wentz, Connor Cook or Christian Hackenberg where the talent drop off is not that steep. While none of the rookie quarterbacks coming out this season are predicted to potentially struggle if they had to start right away, they could all do well developing under Romo.
The Cowboys could try to get Griffin or Manziel and hope they can develop better as a backup, but neither excel in the type of offense that Dallas runs. Romo does not have the same skill set that both Manziel and Griffin have. The easier move for the Cowboys to make is to acquire a rookie to try and succeed Romo in four to five years if not sooner.
