Cowboys owner Jerry Jones loves Tony Romo and nobody can convince him otherwise.
During his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan's K&C Masterpiece show (KRLD-FM), Jones said he expects Romo to play another “four to five years.” But when pressed about his prediction relative to Romo’s recent injury struggles at 35 years old, Jones got a bit fired up.
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"This is not a damn debate, guys," Jones said. "This is not a debate we're having here. Do you know that I don't know if he's got four or five years, you asked me my opinion. And I can give you all the reasons why, the back, or I can give you clavicle, or I can give you any other type of injuries that are there.
"But you're asking me what I think and I think we've got an outstanding quarterback ahead of us for the next four or five years. That's not a downer.”
Jones also said the team “absolutely” plans to develop a quarterback behind Romo, however, he didn’t say that meant spending a first-round pick on a backup.
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"There's no doubt that we will be, as we move forward, continuing to try to get a situation where if Romo should get hurt, then we got a guy that can step in and carry us for some games, hopefully — that's a backup description I'm dealing with there — or at the same time, be developing for the future. That's what we're looking for,” Jones said.
What also isn’t a debate is how badly the 3-8 Cowboys need a better backup option at quarterback. All three of the team’s wins came with Romo as the starter, but now with Romo out for the season with a second clavicle injury, Dallas will try to salvage its season with Matt Cassel.
Maybe this offseason will see Jones draft his first QB since Stephen McGee in 2009, or maybe a more Jones-like move with a trade for Robert Griffin III or Johnny Manziel as reclamation projects.