Tony Romo Walked Away From Four Years and $72 Million. Jerry Jones Says He Is Just Getting Started.
CBS and Tony Romo mutually agreed to part ways on October 2, ending nine seasons in the network’s lead analyst chair. Romo had four years and roughly $72 million left on the 10-year, $180 million contract he signed in 2020. The Athletic reported a financial settlement reached out of court.
On Wednesday, on his weekly segment with Shan Shariff and RJ Choppy on 105.3 The Fan, Jerry Jones made it clear whose side he is on.
“Tony is one of the most valued relationships that I have on a personal basis,” Jones said. “He’s just getting started. He really is. I say that with all sincerity.”
Jones did not pretend nothing happened
He acknowledged the problem directly. “And he certainly has made some mistakes,” Jones said. “He realizes that there’s an area of his life that he wants to do better in.”
Then he went all the way: “I don’t know of anyone, period, that has a better future than Tony Romo.” And: “He’s not only got great talent, but he’s a hell of a man.”
That is a team owner publicly vouching for a former quarterback who left a network job after an arrest. Jones has done this before for people he likes, and the consistency is at least honest.
What Romo himself said
Romo, 46, was arrested in July in Milwaukee on suspicion of operating while intoxicated. In September he pleaded no contest to a civil OWI offense, paid a $784 fine and lost driving privileges for six months.
His statement on Instagram did not hide behind lawyers. “This morning, I faced a recent personal failure by pleading no contest to a civil offense for OWI in Wisconsin,” he wrote. “I own this completely.”
He cited back surgeries, chronic pain, dependence on pain medication and what he called an over-reliance on alcohol. That is a specific and uncomfortable list, and Romo put it in public himself.
CBS handled the exit carefully
The network’s statement, via Richard Deitsch, was short: “CBS Sports and Tony Romo have mutually agreed to part ways. We thank Tony for his contributions over the past nine years.”
Romo joined CBS in 2017 and called three Super Bowls alongside Jim Nantz. J.J. Watt has replaced him as lead analyst with Nantz and Tracy Wolfson.
Why Jones talking matters
Romo never played for anyone but Dallas. He threw for the Cowboys from 2006 through 2016 and then went straight into a broadcast booth. Jones is the closest thing he has to a former boss with a microphone.
There is a version of this where an owner says something diplomatic about a difficult situation and moves on. Jones instead said Romo is just getting started, acknowledged the mistakes, and predicted the best future of anyone in the business.
Whether a network agrees is a separate question. The settlement means Romo does not need the next job immediately, and the honesty of his own statement gives him more room than most people in his position get.
He is 46 with nine years of lead-analyst experience and a documented reason for what went wrong. Jones is betting on the comeback. It is not a crazy bet.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
