Cowboys News & Notes: Jerry Jones Expects Tony Romo To Be Cowboys QB For Next 4-5 Years

Jerry Jones' QB plan starts with 4-5 year plan for Tony Romo - Todd Archer, ESPN
Jerry Jones said he believes Tony Romo "will be doing the heavy lifting for us at quarterback and for the team for the next four or five years." That's all nice and well, but Jones was willing to draft Manziel two years ago, so does the faith in Romo preclude the Cowboys from taking a QB at No. 4?

"What is the one unequivocable fact that you can count on relative to the preparation of this draft and on draft day is that I'm planning on Romo being the quarterback for the next four or five years," Jones said during a more than one-hour long interview on the team's luxury bus from the scouting combine on Saturday. "That's a fact. You won't see a decision on draft day that will fly in the face of not believing, from our standpoint, that he'll be our quarterback for four or five years."

"There's no one breathing that has any idea at this time what we're going to do with that first pick because I don't," Jones said. "And there's nobody you could talk to that thinks they're leaning that way to do that because I'm giving you the lean right now. I think Romo is going to be our quarterback for four or five years and we'll make all decisions accordingly."

Jerry Jones expects Romo to be Cowboys' QB for 4-5 years - Andy Fenelon, NFL.com
Here's NFL.com taking a stab at trying to decipher what exactly it is that Jerry Jones said.

If we are to take Jones at his word (a tough thing to do in draft season), then spending a pick at No. 4, where the Cowboys draft in the first round, would make little sense. As tempting as it might be, taking a player like Carson Wentz, thinking he'll potentially sit for four to five years behind Romo, would be wasteful.

And it's not like the Cowboys are rebuilding. This is a team that suffered through injuries last season, namely to Romo, that resulted in a down year. Getting Romo back, and adding a few pieces in free agency and a couple more in the draft, especially at No. 4, might be enough to win the NFC East and perhaps make a deep run in the playoffs.

Jones seemed to hint that might be the plan.

Jerry Jones: I'm Planning On Romo Being The QB For 4-5 More Years - David Helman, Dallas Cowboys
Tiny Jim offers his mothership-santioned take on what Jones said.

It would be a mistake to read too much into pre-draft commentary. With such a lofty pick, the Cowboys can be expected to do their due diligence on every possible prospect, and commentary from February may be irrelevant by April. Jones said himself that the pick might not be decided until the final possible moments.

But as the Cowboys dive deeper into their preparations for this year’s pick, Jones’ confidence in his current quarterback is worth keeping in mind.

Mayock: Cowboys offer ideal situation for QB prospect Wentz - Chase Goodbread, NFL.com
Mike Mayock believes Carson Wentz would be better off drafted by a team that doesn't need to press him into rookie action this fall.

"I'd love to see (Wentz) sit for a year. If I'm (the Dallas Cowboys) at (pick) No. 4 (overall), I'm sitting there kind of licking my lips because I've got a 36-year-old quarterback that hasn't finished a season in three years and you're probably not going to be at No. 4 again very soon. At least, you hope not if you're Dallas," Mayock said. "So you get an opportunity to kind of draft for the future, so I would much prefer looking at a guy that maybe I could groom for a year and play. I think that's the ideal situation for him."

Drafting an NFL QB a risky proposition - Aaron Wilson, Houston Chronicle
Here's a take on the risks of drafting a QB, but it's not from a Cowboys perspective for a change. And remember how you heard that this year's QB class was weak? Bollocks, says Aaron Wilson.

Although there's a frequent complaint in NFL circles about a talent drain at football's most important position, this could be the year where an influx of gunslingers could create an impact. Whether it's the steady rhythm and vision of Cal quarterback Jared Goff, the stature and live arm of North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, the velocity and mobility of Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch, the winning pedigree of Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook and the hope that Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg can recapture his lost freshman form, it's an intriguing class.

"This is a really good year to be in the market for a quarterback," said NFL draft analyst Russ Lande, a former Cleveland Browns scout. "If you're the Texans and you're looking to find your guy, you've got a very good shot at getting this right. I would be shocked if they didn't draft a quarterback pretty high."

Tony Romo leaning toward getting plate in collarbone - Kevin Patra, NFL.com
Romo told NFL Media's Desmond Purnell on Saturday that he is leaning towards getting a plate inserted in his collarbone, but won't make a decision until after a scan.

"We're going to have the CT scan next week and go from there," Romo said. "Most likely I'm leaning towards getting the plate. We'll see though how strong it is. Really if it's as strong as we want then we won't do anything, but I think we're leaning towards the plate. Not very invasive. Not a very big thing."

Tony Romo on draft: Cowboys can get ‘impactful’ player to help quickly - Drew Davison, The Star-Telegram
Where the front office and some fans look at the draft as a means to improve the team in the long term, players usually have win-now expectation for the draft.

"I think you always want someone who can come in and help your football team quickly," said Romo, appearing with his family at a promotional event Saturday for The Lego Movie 4D: A New Adventure at Legoland.

"So, in that regard, we’re all excited about getting a player who can help us. At that spot you can get an impactful player, so that’s about the only good thing that comes out of the season."

Cowboys safety Barry Church prefers win-now draft, free agency approach - Drew Davison, The Star-Telegram
Barry Church is going into his final year of his contract with the Cowboys, and like Romo, his primary expectation for the draft is to select players that can help the Cowboys win in 2016.

"Personally, I would like to have a win-now piece," said Church, appearing on behalf of the Cowboys at a community event at Bebensee Elementary on Friday afternoon.

"I’m a veteran now and I need to win, I want to win, so I don’t want to look a couple years down the road. I want to win now. But whoever they draft, I feel like they’ll make a great decision. Hopefully, whoever [they draft] can help our team get to that next level."

More talk that Cowboys don’t think RGIII is a fit in their offense - ProFootballTalk
Ed Werder, who remains uncannily plugged in to the Cowboys organization, reported earlier that the Cowboys’ coaching staff doesn’t see Griffin’s skill set as a good fit for their schemes.

"Not a lot of people in Dallas think he’s a great fit in Jason Garrett’s offense, and I’m told that Scott Linehan, the offensive coordinator, is really not a fan of RGIII’s and doesn’t think he would excel with what the Cowboys would ask him to do," Werder said on NFL Live.

Adam Schefter: I think RG3 is gonna be in play for Cowboys - SportsDay Staff
Undeterred by what his colleague Ed Werder had just said, Adam Schefter joined on KESN-FM 103.3 to say the exact opposite.

Let's just say you sign RG3 during the offseason, you solidify the quarterback position. You decide to go defense; you get a running back in there. Very quickly you think your team is back to what it was, not this past year, but the year before. I think RG3 is gonna be in play for the Dallas Cowboys. So that would be one quarterback option that might make it easier for you to pass on a quarterback this year. But the bottom line is if there's a quarterback they love, it's hard to pass up solidifying the next 12 years of your franchise by doing that.

2016 NFL franchise tag numbers by position - Pro Football Weekly
On Friday, the NFL and NFLPA set the 2016 salary cap at $155.27 million, and the franchise tag numbers followed shortly thereafter. Keep these numbers in mind as you ponder who the Cowboys should draft with the fourth overall pick.

QB: $19.953 million
DE: $15.701 million
WR: $14.599 million
LB: $14.129 million
OL: $13.706 million
DT: $13.651 million
RB: $11.780 million
S: $10.806 million
TE: $9.118 million
PK/P: $4.572 million

NFL discusses reduction to three preseason games
Seems like every year, somebody floats the idea of reducing preseason games. This time it's Packers president Mark Murphy, who is on the NFL competition committee and who said support is growing around the league to reduce the preseason schedule to three games.