In the media, the level of interest in Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is at an all-time high. According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, that level of interest may not be shared by either of the teams with whom he is most often associated: the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.
“It seems to me like he’s not a priority for either of these teams,” McClain told Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro during Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports Radio. “I’d love to see him here [in Houston], but if he comes, you better have a good backup, because he’s gonna get hurt.”
The saga may drag on for awhile. McLain, who has covered the NFL for nearly 40 years, feels like Cowboys owner Jerry Jones may wait until the NFL Draft to try and trade Romo. According to him, a trade is not something the Texans would be interested in.
“The Texans will not trade for him,” he said bluntly. “They will not give him a big contract. If he’s unrestricted, they’ll pursue him. If Denver wants him, I think he’ll end up in Denver because John Elway is a great recruiter, as you guys know.”
Not only does McClain feel that, to come to Houston, Romo would have to accept far less that top-tier money; he doesn’t think that the team would even be willing to offer eight figures in base salary.
“I’m just guessing they’d give him like $3-4 million and that’s it,” he said. “I would say the incentives could be up to $20 million, but he wouldn’t get much as a base salary and probably no signing bonus.”
While Tony Romo might have trouble staying on the field, he has performed at a high level when healthy. That figure may seem like pennies on the dollar for such a quarterback. If what McClain says about the Texans mindset is true, then that may be enough reason to go grab a No. 9 orange jersey.
“If he [Elway] is willing to give more than that, then you guys got him.”
Listen to the full interview with John McClain, including his thoughts on the Brock Osweiler trade and why he’s so low on Romo, in the podcast below.
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Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
