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Tony Romo is retiring and moving into the broadcast booth.
The Cowboys officially released the injury-plagued quarterback on Tuesday after two months of indecision by the franchise ended with Romo stepping away from a sport in which he had risen to superstar status.
Romo, who turns 37 on April 21, promptly accepted a job with CBS after drawing high demand in the broadcast world. Romo, according to ESPN, made the decision for health reasons and the opportunity to spend more time with his family.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, after several weeks of keeping Romo on the roster in apparent hopes of trading him, said the release was at Romo’s request.
“Tony has been a wonderful representative of the Cowboys organization for 14 years, and he left everything he had on the field,” Jones said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “He will leave us with many great memories and a legacy of being, truly, one of the greatest players in Cowboys history. We are thrilled for him and his family that he will be able to continue working as a professional in the game he loves so dearly.
“He is a young man who is just getting started on a long journey in life. All the best my friend.”
Romo was thought to be the top target of the Texans and Broncos, but now his decision will offer some clarity in the free-agent quarterback market. However, an NFL executive cautioned ESPN against declaring an absolute end to the Romo saga: “Romo is now every team’s emergency backup QB in case your starter gets hurt,” the exec said, and teams would have to pony up to lure the four-time Pro Bowler out of “retirement.”
Romo missed most of the 2016 season with a broken bone in his back and was replaced by rookie Dak Prescott, who led the Cowboys to a 13-3 record and the top seed in the NFC.
“Tony Romo has a unique combination of athletic ability, arm talent, vision and instincts for the game,” said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, who reportedly had grown apart from Romo during his prolonged, awkward absence last season. “What separates Tony from many other players, however, is a rare competitive spirit. Tony loves to play. Tony loves to compete. The best ones always do.”
He had a $14 million base salary and a $24.7 million salary cap hit for the Cowboys this season on a deal that ran through 2019.
The franchise leader with 34,183 yards passing and 248 touchdowns, Romo never parlayed his regular-season success into deep playoff runs the way Hall of Famers and multiple Super Bowl winners Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman did before him.
Romo was 78-49 as the starter in Dallas, but just 2-4 in the postseason, with no road victories and no trips to the NFC championship game for a proud franchise that is one of just three teams that hasn’t played for the NFC title the past 21 seasons.
With AP
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