PHOENIX — Dallas Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said contract talks with quarterback Tony Romo are ongoing and that he is confident an extension will get done.
But Jones has no idea when that will happen.“It will be done when it’s done,” Jones said Tuesday at the NFL Owners Meetings. “I’m one of those never to predict. I do think it will get done, but I don’t know when. Yes, I’m confident.”With Romo entering the last year of his contract and counting $16.8 million against the salary cap next year, the Cowboys need to get an extension done with him to lower his cap figure so they can add players to the team in free agency as well as sign the draft class.According to Jones, the Cowboys have “five figures” in cap room after signing linebacker Ernie Sims to a one-year deal for the league minimum on Sunday.According to source, Cowboys have just south of $100,000 in cap room.Still, Jones says the Cowboys don’t feel a sense of urgency to get a deal done with Romo.Although the Cowboys would like to add a few second-tier veterans for insurance purposes, Jones said they were never going to be big players in free agency as they were last season when they signed a team-record seven players.The Cowboys believe the best way for them to improve for next season is by getting healthy and improving technically through the coaching changes and via the draft.“As I’ve said again and again, this is absolutely no excuse, but one of the things the team needs to do is get healthy,” Jones said. “At some point, we will look to improve ourselves. But it was never going to be a deal where we were out shopping in a big way in free agency. That doesn’t mean we won’t get one or two guys when all is said and done. Right guy, right time, right place and we’ll take a look at it. The big focus for us is in this draft. We need to draft well here and get our players healthy. We like our team.”Jones said the Cowboys have a pretty good idea on who the starters are at every position though they would like to add some veterans for depth and insurance purposes. He says they can do that after the draft and all the way up until training camp.Jones, however, reiterated that their biggest focus of the off-season is getting a deal done with Romo.That is a bigger priority for Jones and the Cowboys than signing linebacker Anthony Spencer to a contract extension to lower his $10.6 million cap figure for next season.“Quarterbacks usually take precedent,” Jones said. “Not like I don’t like Spencer, quarterbacks usually come first and foremost. They take up a significant part of your cap. It obviously dictates a lot for us this year when we’re all said and done.”Spencer’s agent, Jordan Woy, said he has plans to talk to the Cowboys later this week about an extension.Jones said they would like to get a deal done with Spencer but they are also comfortable with him playing under the franchise tag of $10.6 million.Spencer signed the deal last week.“We can go either way,” Jones said. “We would always like to lock up a really good football player. I think Anthony still got several years to play.”Not only would Jones like to have Spencer, he plans to keep for him for at least this year. Jones all but debunked any talk of the Cowboys shopping Spencer in a trade.“No. I mean not anything we want to look at,” Jones responded, when asked if he had any trade offers for Spencer. “At the end of the day, we plan on Anthony being here. Now anybody at anytime, there has always been a philosophy if the right deal is there that makes us a better team, then you’ve got to take a look at it. Our thoughts are Anthony is going to be playing football for the Cowboys this year.”Clarence E. Hill Jr., 817-390-7760 Twitter: @clarencehilljr
