When the Packers chose Aaron Rodgers in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft with Brett Favre still on the roster, many questioned Green Bay’s thinking. Flash forward a decade and the Green Bay way is the gold standard.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who watched an aging Tony Romo miss 12 games last season with injuries, said he hopes to have an Aaron Rodgers-like succession plan in place and ready to take the keys when Romo decides to call it quits.
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“If a player came in here and played behind (Romo) 3-4 years, he would come out with a Harvard degree in how to play quarterback, in my mind,” Jones said (via ESPN.com). “He would be that influential. And it would open up an area of how to play the game that we all would agree has a certain unique style to it. Just like, say, Favre did with Rodgers. That’s in my mind.
“That can be very impressionable and really be a big positive. So when I’m sitting there thinking about which way to go here, the ability to with Romo there and the ability to have a top talent learning behind that team and with Romo, it's a big asset.”
The Cowboys have the fourth overall pick in April’s draft and could possibly have their pick of the top QBs in the class. Jones said last week he expects Romo to play in Dallas another 4-5 years, so seeing him take a shot that early seems unlikely. But at the top of the second round Jones could pull the trigger on a next-tier guy worth grooming behind Romo, who turns 36 in April.
“You look at examples of Rodgers and you look at the example that he got to come in there and work behind Favre,” Jones said. “Something like that could happen if we decided to go quarterback at some level. I emphasize that — at some level.”