This is going to be a long, arduous offseason in Dallas thanks mostly to their impending decisions at quarterback.
On Monday, head coach Jason Garrett wanted to keep those discussions at arm's length for at least a little while. He was asked if Dak Prescott was definitively the team's starting quarterback in 2017.
"Don't want to get into those discussions," he said, via The Dallas Morning News.
What Garrett did want to talk about was how well both Prescott and Tony Romo handled the entire situation. With Dallas rolling for a majority of the season, any real resistance from Romo could have derailed a special run to the NFC East title and home field advantage in Dallas.
"It was a challenging situation, but the principal people, Dak Prescott and Tony Romo, just handled it beautifully," Garrett said, via the team's official site. "We talk about the team, the team, the team and always putting the team first. Those guys put the team first. That's one of the reasons why we were able to handle it as an organization, how we were able to handle it as a football team.
"They're impressive guys. You hear me talk about the right kind of guy all the time. Those two guys are the right kind of guys."
Garrett's full comments are worth reading for any Cowboys fan. He told Romo that, despite the quarterback saying Prescott earned his role because football is a "meritocracy," there was a "compelling argument to be made that (Romo) should be your quarterback" based on his previous performances as well.
Without getting into it, Garrett said he wanted the best for Romo.
"Tony has been such a great player for the Cowboys over the course of his career here," Garrett said, via ESPN.com. "Equally important is he has been such a great person for this organization. He has been a great leader and an example to his teammates, his coaches and people in the community about how to go about it. We certainly want the best for him, whether he is here or whether he is somewhere else."