Should Tony Romo play elsewhere next season, the Broncos would make plenty of sense. They are a veteran-heavy team with talented receivers who may be one quarterback away from the Super Bowl, just like they were when Peyton Manning arrived in 2012.
On Sunday, one of Denver's receivers, Emmanuel Sanders, talked about the difficult balance between reaching for another talented player with experience and abandoning their tandem of young, moldable prospects at the position.
"I believe I would benefit," he said on GameDay Morning. "But one thing about it is: I'm always gonna take it back and I'm just gonna put it on (general manager) John Elway. In John Elway I trust. If he does bring him over, I think Tony Romo will fit good in (offensive coordinator Mike) McCoy's system. It's a no-huddle, up-tempo offense. I think that it's gonna be similar to the Cowboys. I think he has Demaryius Thomas and some receiver No. 10 on the other side. I feel like we will win ballgames with Tony Romo or potentially a championship. At the same time, Paxton Lynch played in a spread offense at Memphis and he can be successful. I think Trevor (Siemian) can be successful. We'll see what we do. I can't sit up here and say 'Bring Tony Romo!' because I also have two other quarterbacks that are playing really well too."
Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware, also on the show Sunday, added: "I just think he (would) be a great fit for the Denver Broncos, but also, we already got two vested guys in Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. So you got to think about what type of message you want to send to the team? ... Is it a right now thing or do you want to use your vested guys and say, 'we're going to build this team or what are we going to do?' You never know what everyone wants to do, so I think regardless if he goes to Houston, Broncos, or goes to the Jets, it'll be a good fit."
For Sanders, it has to be a difficult proposition. He and Demaryius Thomas were open about their frustration earlier in the season when their target numbers dropped. After a long 2016 which saw both Lynch and Siemian start, both receivers ended up with fewer total yards, touchdowns and yards per catch go down despite their catch percentage going up. They have not shied away from what makes them tick, and coming down from the Manning era wasn't easy.
That being said, staying the course with young players can have its advantages.
As NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport noted last week, Dallas' top priority is to deal Romo and the Broncosare the No. 1 team on his list. Unfortunately for Romo, the Broncos do not feel the same way. New head coach Vance Joseph has the unique opportunity to use their available salary-cap space to keep building that monstrous defense and lean on his talented offensive coordinator to get the best out of two low-cost starters. Romo could get in the way of some potential free agents.
