Looks Like A Romo Paycut Was Best For Murray
They weren’t friends for a minute.
Throwing for 34 TDs (2nd highest in his career) and 9 INTs (2nd lowest in his career), Tony Romo is coming off arguably his greatest year in the NFL. But his personal success wasn’t the only bright spot on the Cowboys franchise. “America’s Team” had an astounding 12-4 season, the best they’ve had in 7 years. Much of this was credited to the 3-headed monster they had on offense that consisted of Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, and DeMarco Murray.
Having both all-pro wide receiver Dez Bryant and all-pro running back DeMarco Murray playing in their contract years, posed many questions heading into the new year. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones knew it would be tricky to sign both of these studs stating, “Is it financially reasonable? No. Is it possible? Yes. But if you just looked at it from dollars and cents, it probably doesn’t look reasonable.” The only possibility to have all 3 offensive juggernauts back on the same roster? A pay-cut. Or, as Romo put it, “a restructured deal.”
Romo Took to Dallas 105.3
Specifically the Fan Show with Ben & Skin where he discussed his conversation with Murray on free agency. When going back and forth on how to get DeMarco to stay in Dallas, Romo told Ben & Skin, “DeMarco ended up asking me, ‘Why don’t you take a pay cut?’ I said, ‘I will. I would take a pay cut to go do this.’ I was like, ‘They’re going to restructure me.’ That’s the same thing in some ways, just for the salary cap purposes. He was like, ‘OK, now we’re back to being friends, again.’ I would take $5 million less if it meant getting him back.”
Obviously, with the way things panned out, this conversation wasn’t very effective. Romo didn’t fail to mention that he was extremely sad to see his star running-back go, but was happy that he got a larger, and much deserved, contract in Philly playing for the Eagles. And he did just that.
While the Cowboys offer was around $24 million spread through 4 years, Philadelphia handed Murray a 5 year contract worth $42 million. With Jerry Jones’ years on earth dwindling down, and Tony Romo’s ailing back seeming to be more of a distraction every year, it was well worth a try for the quarterback. Hopefully the signing of Darren McFadden can fill the void of #29…or not.
