Quarterback Tony Romo expects to be released by the Dallas Cowboys — and not traded — this offseason, sources close to the popular veteran told ESPN’s Ed Werder.
“Obviously the Cowboys would like to recoup something for their enormous investment in Romo and his obvious value,” Werder said Thursday on SportsCenter. “But, age 37, recent injury history — he’s only played in five of the last 32 games — I think it makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to trade him, especially considering his contract.”
Romo’s contract makes him difficult to trade. He signed a six-year, $119.5 million deal in 2013 that at the time was just the 15th deal worth $100 million or more in NFL history; he is scheduled to make $14 million in 2017, and $40 million more over 2018 and 2019. Designating Romo as a post-June 1 release would cost the Cowboys only $10.7 million of their 2017 cap by allowing them to roll $8.9 million of Romo’s dead money over into 2018. If the Cowboys release him before June 1, though, it would cost them $19.6 million in cap space in 2017 alone.
A number of NFL teams, such as the Chicago Bears, who are expected to move on from Jay Cutler after eight seasons, or the Buffalo Bills, who don’t appear committed to picking up Tyrod Taylor’s $27 million option due next month, could be in the market for a new quarterback. Given his age — he turns 37 in April — it is believed that Romo would prefer to join a playoff contender.
“The teams I think he has an eye on are a team like the Chiefs, a team like the Broncos and maybe more so than the others, the Houston Texans,” Werder said.
Injuries have plagued Romo in recent seasons, including this past season, when he suffered a back injury in the preseason and never won the starting job back from rookie Dak Prescott as the Cowboys went 13-3 and earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
If released, Romo would be leaving Dallas as the Cowboys’ all-time leader in passing yards (34,183), better than Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. Unlike those two, who combined to win all five of Dallas’ Super Bowl titles, Romo would be leaving Dallas with just two playoff wins to his name.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — About an hour after new San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch had taken part in his introductory press conference, he walked into the media room at Levi’s Stadium for another round of questions with local writers.
Lynch had honestly and earnestly answered every question thrown his way, be it about his lack of experience running a personnel department, the division of power between him and coach Kyle Shanahan, or just about anything else. He’d done so with a smile and plenty of enthusiasm. As the conversation continued, Lynch was asked something a bit more difficult: Why?
As in why would a former player with a wife, four children and a good job as a color analyst for NFL games on Fox choose to leave for the high-pressure, results-driven business of being a general manager?
Lynch’s answer began with a quip but ended with emotion as he choked back tears talking about being away from his family.
John Lynch has had to make sacrifices as he transitions to his new, high-profile job as the 49ers GM. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
“My wife keeps saying, ‘Are you sure?'” Lynch said. “I said, ‘Well, this has already started. We’re in.’ I’ve never been apart from my family, so it’s been gut-wrenching already but — sorry — that’s been tough.”
For now, Lynch is living in a local hotel as he adjusts to his new job while his wife Linda and four children — Jake, 17, Lindsay, 16, Lilly, 14, and Leah, 9 — are finishing the school year in San Diego. Jake might stay there with Lynch’s parents for his senior year, but the rest of the family will eventually relocate to the Bay Area. On weekends, Lynch travels to Southern California or his family comes to visit him.
It’s just one of the many sacrifices Lynch has had to make in transitioning to his new, high-profile job after eight years in the broadcast booth. It was also one of the primary things Lynch and his family considered before the Niners surprised the football world by hiring him out of nowhere to help rebuild this once-proud franchise.
“As soon as we started having conversations, I knew that this was going to be a possibility, so the biggest thing was, ‘Can I get my family on board?’” Lynch said. “Ultimately, we got there. At first my wife said, ‘You go make this decision,’ and I said, ‘No, no, no, we have to make this decision.’ I got them to the point where they were as excited as I was and pulled the trigger.”
Like Elway and so many other former athletes, Lynch’s post-football career simply didn’t satisfy the competitive fire within him. It’s a fire that Shanahan recognized still burns in Lynch when the subject of working together in San Francisco was first broached.
“What excited me so much about John is [that] John had a pretty good deal before coming here,” Shanahan said. “I remember when he told me why he wanted to be a general manager, and he really missed someone winning and losing at the end of a game. He enjoyed doing the announcing and being a part of the NFL, but the fight to go through something with a group of guys and what we go through together, and it is not easy and it’s a grind for everybody, but it is worth it. That’s really what people who played, people who coached, those are the reasons when people get out of it, they miss it so much.”
It’s that same competitive persona that made taking this particular job appealing to Lynch. Although he had never been all-in on moving into personnel, he said he has had conversations with teams in the past about making that move. In the run-up to recent drafts, Elway has invited Lynch to help the scouting department.
“He used to always give me a hard time and kind of bust my chops: ‘What are you really doing when you broadcast a game?'” Lynch said, laughing. “‘What kind of impact are you having?’ He was messing with me.”
But Elway also gave Lynch opportunities to see what he was missing, first by asking him to watch tape of safety prospects and write reports. Lynch was a Pro Bowl safety with the Buccaneers and Broncos.
Then, Elway asked Lynch to sit in on some draft meetings. Then, Lynch attended the scouting combine in Indianapolis with the Broncos, participating in every aspect of the process except the interviews.
Seeing it up close gave Lynch a new perspective. Combining that with the need to have a result — positive or negative — to take home with him after games, Lynch saw himself making the leap.
“When you’ve got a guy who had as good of a life setup, with his job and where he was, and he wants to come be a GM for one reason, because he wants to be a part of that working to win again — and that’s how I think, too,” Shanahan said. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in this business, and it’s a big-time business and I get that, but when it comes down to it, when you have the people who are working together to try to lead the organization the way they think is pretty simple: It’s about football and really not much else.”
Seville – Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli insisted his focus is solely on making history in the Champions League despite increasing speculation the Argentine could take charge of Barcelona next season.
The Europa League holders host struggling English champions Leicester City in the first leg of its last 16 tie on Wednesday hoping to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in the Champions League era.
However, Barcelona’s 4-0 Champions League hammering at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain last week has put Sampaoli’s name at the head of the queue should Barca boss Luis Enrique not have his contract renewed at the end of the season.
“At the moment the only thing that appeals to us is to live in the present,” Sampaoli said on Tuesday.
“This game is the most important thing for us, to be among the best eight teams in the most important tournament in the world, and to think about anything else for me would be irresponsible.”
Barca’s interest allied to a fine debut season at the Sanchez Pizjuan with Sevilla also riding high in third in La Liga has even seen club reportedly set to offer Sampaoli an improved deal to stay in Seville.
However, he believes the pressure now being put on Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri just months after achieving the seemingly impossible in winning the Premier League is a sign that he can’t get carried away with the plaudits coming his way.
“We live in the present and maybe in two weeks this (praise) won’t happen because it has to do with momentousness success. There has to be a much wider analysis,” added Sampaoli.
“But the fact that the club has the intention to think about a new contract pleases us and we will evaluate it.”
Garry Gilliam started most of the season at right tackle, and he is a restricted free agent.
Coach Pete Carroll made it clear after the season that he didn’t think spending more money on the offensive line would fix the Seahawks’ issues.
“That’s not how we think, like, ‘OK, let’s take money and put it here,’ and all of a sudden you’re going to be better,” he said. “You have to get guys that will play worthy of it, and when they demonstrate that, they get paid. We’ve shown that we understand that, and we’re committed to that mentality.
“I don’t think you can just buy your way to it. We’re not going to do that. We’re not going to go out and spend a ton of money on free agency on one guy to try to save the day. That’s not how we function at all.”
Having said that, general manager John Schneider and his staff pride themselves on exploring all possibilities.
Albert turns 33 in November, has missed 13 games the past three seasons and did not play particularly well in 2016. He was a Pro Bowler the previous season, though. Albert is due $8.9 million in 2017 and $9.6 million in 2018. Any team that trades for him will have to give up compensation and be willing to take on his current contract.
Clady has missed 22 of a possible 48 starts the past three seasons due to injuries. In 2016, he tried to play through a torn rotator cuff but then was placed on injured reserve. Clady turns 31 in September.
Beachum does not have the length that the Seahawks typically prefer at tackle but has started 39 games there, including 15 last season. He turns 28 in June.
The guess here? The Seahawks will employ the same approach as last offseason. They will look to sign players to low-risk, one- or two-year deals with little guaranteed money and hope their decisions yield better results than last season when the team got next to nothing from J’Marcus Webb and Bradley Sowell.
The Seahawks would be wise to add competition at tackle this offseason, but it seems unlikely that they’ll target one of the bigger names on the market in free agency.
“Obviously the Cowboys would like to recoup something for their enormous investment in Romo and his obvious value,” Werder said Thursday on SportsCenter. “But, age 37, recent injury history — he’s only played in five of the last 32 games — I think it makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to trade him, especially considering his contract.”
