Jerry Jones: No idea on Cowboys’ top pick, committed to Romo

No one knows what the Dallas Cowboys are going to do with the fourth overall pick in the NFL Draft — not even owner Jerry Jones.

He readily admits that much.

So the possibility of drafting a quarterback such as Carson Wentz or Jared Goff remains an option just as much as taking an impact defensive player.

But Jones made one thing abundantly clear during a roughly 70-minute interview while sitting on the Cowboys bus outside the NFL Scouting Combine on Saturday.

The Cowboys remain firmly Romo-centric when it comes to their draft plans and focus.

“What is the one unequivocal 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. “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.”

Romo will be 36 next year and is coming off a season in which he missed 12 games after twice fracturing his collarbone.

Romo is expected to have a plate inserted in his shoulder in hopes of preventing a re-break of the collarbone.

Jones said there is no angst on his part regarding the surgery or Romo’s availability in the future.

Jones understands the thought process of taking a flier on a quarterback at No. 4, making this a unique opportunity to select a successor for Romo. The Cowboys haven’t had a pick this high since they took Russell Maryland first overall in 1991. They also selected Troy Aikman first overall in 1989.

“The only difference is we have in house in Romo the person that I believe will be doing the heavy lifting for us at quarterback and for the team for the next four or five years,” Jones said. “When you’ve got this high a pick and you have the circumstances we’re in right now with where we are as a team and with the quarterback, you’ve got to look at what’s available to us for sure.”

The Cowboys will likely take a quarterback at some point, if not at No. 4. Jones said he didn’t know whether there was a franchise quarterback in this draft.

Jones also believes the best way to help the Cowboys bounce back from last season’s 4-12 campaign will be to help Romo by getting an immediate-impact defensive player. He expects the Cowboys to be contenders with Romo. An addition on defense could help resurrect those Super Bowl dreams Jones had going into the 2015 season.

“I couldn’t tell you today at all how we might make the decision,” Jones said. “This is one of those that might not be made until we’re down to the last 10 seconds on the clock. 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.

“I think Romo is going to be our quarterback for four or five years, and we’ll make all decisions accordingly.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 8:16 PM with the headline "Jerry Jones: No idea on Cowboys’ top pick, committed to Romo."