Tony Romo

Tony Romo (born April 21, 1980, San Diego, California, U.S.) is an American professional gridiron football player who emerged as one of the leading quarterbacks in the National Football League (NFL) in the early 21st century.

Romo spent most of his childhood in southern Wisconsin, where he idolized Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, whose aggressive, risk-taking style of play he eventually sought to emulate. Although Romo was a standout player for Burlington (Wisconsin) High School, he was not recruited by the major college football teams and wound up attending Eastern Illinois University, a Division I-AA school in Charleston, Illinois. At Eastern Illinois he was a three-time (2000–02) Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, and in his senior season he received the Walter Payton Award as Division I-AA’s top offensive player.

Despite being eligible for the 2003 NFL draft, Romo was again overlooked. Later that year he signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent, but he earned little playing time in his first three seasons. He did not take over as starting quarterback until 2006, when he replaced an aging Drew Bledsoe near midseason. Romo blossomed almost immediately in the starter’s role, helping the Cowboys land a wild-card spot in the playoffs. His ability to improvise plays and his willingness to throw downfield quickly made him a fan favourite. He finished the season having passed for 19 touchdowns and 2,903 yards and became the first Cowboys quarterback to be selected for the Pro Bowl since Troy Aikman in 1996.

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Although Romo was blamed for the Cowboys’ 2006 playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks—he dropped the snap on a potentially game-winning field goal attempt—he returned to lead the team to a 12–1 start in 2007, the best in franchise history. The Cowboys went on to win their first National Football Conference (NFC) East Division title in nine years, and Romo finished the regular season with 36 touchdowns and 4,211 passing yards. However, the Cowboys were upset by the rival New York Giants in their opening playoff game, and Romo’s performance in big games began to be called into question by some observers. The criticism grew louder in 2008 when the Cowboys suffered a 44–6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the final game of the season with a playoff berth on the line. In 2009 Romo gained a measure of redemption as he passed for a career-high 4,483 yards (which was also a franchise record) and led the Cowboys to their first postseason victory in 14 years.

A fractured clavicle limited Romo to just six games during the 2010 season. In each of the following three years, the Cowboys finished with 8–8 records, missing the playoffs by losing to a division rival in the final week of the regular season each time. While Romo produced solid statistics over those seasons—including breaking the Cowboys’ single-season passing mark with 4,903 yards in 2012—the team’s mediocrity led to the continuation of the “Romo is not clutch” narrative. Although he threw a fair number of poorly timed interceptions, Romo was in fact among the league leaders in fourth-quarter passer rating during his career and led numerous game-winning drives. He had his best professional season in 2014, leading the NFL with a 113.2 passer rating while throwing 34 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Dallas won a division title that season, and Romo led a game-winning fourth-quarter drive in the team’s opening playoff contest, but the Cowboys were eliminated in the team’s next postseason game. Romo was once again sidelined by an injury in 2015 as a broken collar bone limited him to just four games, and the Cowboys staggered to a 4–12 record in his absence. In 2016 Romo was once more bitten by the injury bug when a broken bone in his back sidelined him until midseason. However, the stellar play of rookie quarterback Dak Prescott, who ultimately led Dallas to an NFC-best 13–3 record, forced Romo into a back-up role after he returned to the active roster.

In April 2017 he abruptly retired from the NFL and immediately joined CBS as a commentator for NFL television broadcasts. At the time of his retirement, Romo had thrown for 34,183 yards (29th most in NFL history), 248 touchdowns (21st all-time), and had a 97.1 career passer rating (fourth highest ever). Romo was an immediate sensation in the broadcast booth, earning plaudits for his insightful commentary and his uncanny ability to predict what plays teams were about to run. As a result, he signed a contract with CBS in 2020 worth $17 million per year, the largest annual salary for any sports broadcaster in history.