Tony Romo's return now being projected at 8-10 weeks, making IR more likely

While Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett would never move off his day-to-day time frame for quarterback Tony Romo and the fractured bone in his back, the most hopeful prognosis in the organization had him missing the first six games of the season with a return after the bye.

The initial wide-ranging time frame of six to 10 weeks is now being pegged at the far range of eight to 10 weeks, making it more likely that he will be placed on the injured reserve list/designated for return, sidelining him for the first eight weeks of the season.

The difference is the prognosis is based on the fact the compression fracture to his L1 vetebrae must fully heal before he will be allowed to play, unlike in 2014 when he played through two transverse process fractures in his back, according to source.

But a transverse process fracture is not considered as serious an injury. It is more like a muscle tear than a bone fracture and the time to heal is faster. Romo missed only one game and played through it in 2014, which Garrett pointed on when refusing to give a Romo time frame.

This time it’s different. The bone must fully heal, per a source.

He will be on the 53-man roster when the Cowboys make final cuts on Saturday.

Then the team will decide whether they will move him to the injured reserve list, opening up another roster spot for at least the first eight games of the season.

“We’re certainly getting our hands around it,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Wednesday after the team’s annual Kickoff Luncheon benefiting Happy Hill Farm. “We’ll be needing to make that decision obviously sometime later in the weekend. Whatever we do with him, he’ll need to be on our 53 when we cut it on Friday. So you’ve got to have him through the 53 cut before you can put him on designated to return, if we wanted to consider that. But it may be that we just keep him on the roster. We’ll just see.”

It’s a delicate situation because if the Cowboys think Romo can return sooner they will not put him on injured reserve. Again, the initial thought was that he could return after the bye for the game against the Philadelphia Eagles Oct. 30, meaning he would miss the first six games.

If he goes on injured reserve/designated for return, the earliest he could play would be against the Cleveland Browns Nov. 6.

There is no scenario the Cowboys are considering in which Romo won’t return at all.

“He’s very driven, driven to do what it takes to get back,” Jones said. “We’ve really done a lot of research on this, and I think this was a very freak accident. It’s unfortunate for Tony that he has some of these things, but I think the last thing in the world we’re worried about with Tony is being fragile. Everybody saw the hit and the tackle. It was awkward. I think most doctors would tell you that whoever that would have been would have had a hard time coming through that without some sort of injury.

“He is undeterred, and he really believes that this team does have a different mindset with him not being here and that we can win games and when he does get back, he’s ready to make a run. I think Tony is more prepared to have success in this league than he’s ever been. The key word, as he well knows, is he’s got to stay healthy and he’s got to be able to play, but if he does that, mentally and his knowledge of this game and what our offense is about, I think is the best it’s ever been. So we just look forward to winning some football games as we move forward. When Tony gets back, the team will be ready for him.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2016 at 2:11 AM with the headline "Tony Romo's return now being projected at 8-10 weeks, making IR more likely."