Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Tuesday the team hopes to craft a long-term contract extension for Tony Romo, but negotiations with their starting quarterback reportedly have yet to begin.
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Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com reported Sunday that a source said no progress has been made since Romo's agent, R.J. Gonser, paused contract talks last season to prevent those discussions from becoming a talking point.
There's plenty of time for this process to play out.
Romo is scheduled to enter the final season of the six-year, $67.4 million pact he signed in late 2007. It wouldn't hurt the Cowboys to groom a young passer behind him, but the front office appears hellbent on riding Romo into the future, and we expect a deal to get done.
An extension also makes short-term sense because Romo's base salary of $11.5 million factors into his team-high $16.8 million cap hit. Easing those numbers would allow the Cowboys to improve their troubling cap situation while locking down Romo to what many expect to be a rather affordable $12 million to $14 million per season.
UPDATE: ESPN's Ed Werder later chimed in on the matter via Twitter, saying Jones wouldn't make Romo uncomfortable by having him play out his current contract.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.