Tony Romo’s playing days have come to an end, but that doesn’t mean you’ve seen or heard the last of him.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Romo plans to trade in the pigskin for a microphone:
Tony Romo is leaving football and going into broadcasting, even with Dallas planning to release him today, sources tell @toddarcher and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 4, 2017
Soon after Schefter’s initial report, Schefter tweeted that the rumored hiring of Romo as color analyst at CBS had become official:
Tony Romo is going to CBS, as @Ourand_SBJ reported. Will be CBS’ No. 1 color analyst, matched with Jim Nantz.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 4, 2017
The move will result in Romo replacing longtime color analyst Phil Simms on CBS’s lead broadcast team, meaning that Romo will get paired with Jim Nantz. Fox and NBC had also reportedly approached Romo about joining their broadcast teams.
Those broadcasting opportunities, coupled with concern over his health and what became an extremely difficult trade market in which teams like the Texans and Broncos refused to surrender draft picks, no doubt pushed Romo towards pursuing a career in the booth.
However, even all those factors don’t mean Romo will never play again.
While Romo obviously had difficulty finding another team to go to via trade, by leaving the field altogether, in a sense he’s become the ultimate hired-gun free agent. Meaning, that when a team in playoff contention loses a starting quarterback late in the year, Tony Romo will almost automatically become the first call when looking for a replacement.
For now, though, Tony Romo will learn broadcasting and replace Phil Simms as the color analyst on CBS’s lead broadcast team. We now go to a live shot of the average American sports fan, as he reflects on the possibility of a future without Phil Simms in the booth:
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn
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