Tony Romo is dealing with an injury that will shorten his 2016 season by up to 10 games. This comes on the heels of missing nearly the entire 2015 season. In fact, Romo, now 36, has not played a full 16-game season since 2012.
But team executive Stephen Jones is not concerned with Romo being injury prone or fragile. In fact, he said that Romo’s fragility is the last thing on the mind of anyone with the Dallas Cowboys.
A comment that will entertain some: 'Last thing in the world we’re worried about with #TonyRomo ,' #Cowboys SJones said, "is being fragile.'
— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) August 31, 2016
It’s possible that this is just posturing. Unless Dak Prescott shows otherwise, Romo is still Dallas’ franchise quarterback. A team may not want it known that it considers its franchise quarterback to be fragile.
If this is remotely true that the Cowboys don’t see Romo as fragile, though, it’s a real problem.
The fragility of a player with Romo’s injury history has to be a concern for his organization. When the player in question is in his mid-late 30’s (or older), the concern should be even greater.
If the Cowboys aren’t considering Romo fragile, then it means that they’re not prepared for life without him. That simply can’t be the case.
Now, of course it’s possible that Prescott can play better than the average fourth rounder to effectively make Dallas ready its post-Romo life. But if this doesn’t happen, the Cowboys need to be ready to find the quarterback of the future.
At the very least, that starts with acknowledging that Romo’s fragility gives him a limited shelf life.