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By Todd Archer
INDIANAPOLIS – Tony Romo turns 32 in April, but as I noted a few days ago the Cowboys do not view Romo as a quarterback entering the back nine of his career because he did not play his first three seasons.
The Cowboys are not looking at any sort of multi-year window in which they can compete for a Super Bowl with Romo.
“Every decision I’m making is about now,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Friday.
Jones said the Cowboys have no interest starting over with an Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, the top quarterbacks in this year’s draft, ruling out any trade up for the next “franchise” quarterback.
“I’m not interested in going in starting with a rookie quarterback or doing anything that might be better for us three, four years from now over any proven player that we’ve got,” Jones said.
The Jason Garrett-Romo marriage will be in its sixth season in 2012 and Garrett said Romo is coming off what he called the quarterback’s best season. Romo threw for 4,184 yards with 31 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He had a career-best 102.5 passer rating.
“Let’s make sure, in essence, that we’re maximizing Romo,” Jones said.
While the Cowboys could draft a quarterback in the middle or later rounds, Jones and Garrett have talked the offseason about the importance of the backup quarterback spot. Stephen McGee is entering the final year of his contract, but the Cowboys will look at adding a more veteran quarterback in free agency.
“I am very much a proactivist in making sure that we’ve got a backup quarterback that can win a ballgame if and when we don’t have Romo,” Jones said. “For this time and for this team we cannot afford to lose a game or two that we might have won with a better backup quarterback if Romo was out for a couple of games. I’m very committed to doing the best job I can at making the best decision I can at backup quarterback.”
