Tony Romo is about 99 percent retired, but he has no immediate plans to fill out retirement paperwork as he moves into the next phase of his professional career.
“Romo has not filed retirement papers with the NFL and it is not something that is planned at the moment,” wrote ESPN’s Todd Archer. “That does not mean Romo will return to playing status anytime soon, but it does mean the option remains open.”
Archer speculates that “whenever Romo opts to officially retire, he could re-sign with the Cowboys in a ceremonial way and then be placed on the reserve/retired list.”
Though, because he was released by the Cowboys, Romo could sign on with any NFL team at any time, provided he has permission from CBS to make such a deal.
There have been many reports citing NFL executives and players who believe Romo is not fully done with football. The fact that he’s not ready to say he’s 100 percent done with the game and that he has no immediate plans to file his retirement papers suggests that is a correct assumption.
At this point, it feels inevitable that Romo will follow in the footsteps of Brett Favre, who told the New York Jets he was retiring after the 2008 season. Of course, we all know he came back and quarterbacked for the Minnesota Vikings for two more years afterwards, nearly helping that team make it to a Super Bowl.
Romo can still sling the ball with the best of them. Now we’ll see if his desire to compete for a championship overrules his decision to step away from the game.