No longer best buds, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett says Tony Romo can still play

Jason Garrett insists every decision the Dallas Cowboys make is based on the best interest of the organization.

That was the foundation of last year’s midseason decision to hand the starting quarterback job to rookie sensation Dak Prescott, thus ending the reign of Tony Romo.

It also will be the deciding factor as the Cowboys navigate Romo’s impending departure, whether by trade or release.

An antiseptic, cold-blooded approach is how business decisions are made.

But it certainly has caused a frost in what had been a buddy relationship between coach and quarterback.

Garrett said he has not spoken to Romo since the exit interview after the season-ending playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Both were at a party during the Super Bowl in Houston to celebrate owner Jerry Jones’ induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but there was no interaction.

It’s a far cry from off-seasons of years past when the two would attend SMU basketball games together and take trips to watch Duke.

“I don’t want to comment too much on that,” Garrett said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I haven’t spoke to Tony very much this off-season but I think that has a lot to do with we’re coaching the Pro Bowl, a lot of different things we’re doing as a coaching staff. He’s got a new little baby on the way so he’s busy with that.

“I know he’s continuing to get his rehab done so he can be as healthy as possible going forward. But I have an immense amount of respect for Tony Romo. I’ve been so fortunate to be around him, to be able to coach him, to develop the relationship that we’ve had over the last 10 years. I just hold him in the highest regard.”

The respect is there. But the relationship is different, undoubtedly altered by Garrett’s decision move on from the Cowboys’ all-time leading passer and stick with the hot hand in Prescott.

It was a decision based on the Cowboys being in a winning streak but it also came with long-term ramifications on and off the field.

It was something both knew and understood at the time.

Romo, 36, missed 12 games in 2015 because of a twice-fractured collarbone. Then a broken bone in his back against Seattle in the third preseason game sideline him for the first nine games of 2016.

Although he played well during a brief stint in the season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, the entire body of work was discussed during the January exit interview.

“It was a conversation not unlike the conversation that I have with really everybody on our team, what their situation is, what it was over this past year and what we see it going forward,” Garrett said. “And again his situation is a little bit different in that he was the starting quarterback. This year he dealt with the injuries but Tony’s really a great person and he’s been a great football player for a long time and he’s going to handle the situation, whatever it is, the right way.”

Romo handled it the right way during the season when he conceded the job to Prescott in the best interest of the team.

The question the Cowboys had to answer is not whether Romo can play at a high level again but whether they could count on him to stay healthy.

“That’s been the biggest issue over the last couple of years, just not being available to us because of injury,” Garrett said. “It’s not because he hasn’t worked hard to get himself ready to play. He’s certainly done that. He did a good job this year coming back from the injury, getting himself ready to play towards the end of the year. No reason to think he can’t play at a high level again.”

But the best interest of the organization was to go with Prescott, a younger and more durable option.

Romo’s departure will be hashed out in an upcoming meeting with owner Jerry Jones, though Garrett acknowledges he will have a lot of say in the matter.

“There is no question we believe Tony Romo can still play,” Garrett said. “There is no question he can still play at a high level.”

So why wouldn’t having Romo on the roster, even as a backup, be in the best interest of the team? Is part of the equation doing what’s best for a player who has meant so much to the team?

“Well that expression ‘what’s best for the Dallas Cowboys’ is the guide post for every decision we make, personnel decisions, scheme decisions. We always want to do what’s best for the team first,” Garrett said. “Tony Romo’s been a heck of a football player for a long time. So to have a guy like that on your football team as one of your three quarterbacks, he can help you because he can play and he’s the right kind of guy.

“Having said that, there’s a lot of different factors that go into his decision just like it would any of the other free agent type players that we have on our team. ... Obviously we want to work through this situation the right way in regards to Tony, but we like to do that with any player we have.”

Obviously, money is a factor, as well as Romo’s desire to continue to his career.

By releasing Romo, the Cowboys can gain $5.1 million in cap space and avoid paying his $14 million base salary for 2017.

But just the idea that the Cowboys have gone from building a Romo-friendly offense to him being treated like every other player speaks volumes about the changing relationship with the team’s most valuable player of the last decade.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 8:58 PM with the headline "No longer best buds, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett says Tony Romo can still play."