Tony Romo: Cowboys Would Be Crazy to Neglect Drafting a QB as Backup Plan

Tony Romo cannot be option A, B and C for the Dallas Cowboys going forward.

The Cowboys want to extend Romo's contract, but the franchise must not rest on its laurels and would be wise to take a quarterback at some point early in the 2013 NFL draft.

According to ESPN Dallas' Calvin Watkins:

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Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said the team wants a long-term contract with quarterback Tony Romo because he's the key piece to moving toward a championship.

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Jones' sentiment is debatable.

Romo has a career playoff record of 1-3, and during those four games, he completed less than 60 percent of his passes. Romo is a career 64.7 percent passer during the regular season, which is more than five percentage points higher than his postseason performance.

Additionally, it's well documented that he struggles in elimination games, posting a record of 1-6 in such contests (h/t New York Daily News' Hank Gola).

No doubt, Romo is a phenomenal statistical quarterback during the regular season. He has tossed 177 touchdowns compared to just 91 interceptions during his career—nearly a 2-1 ratio—and has a career passer rating of 95.6, which makes him the No. 5 all-time leader in this category.

It's numbers like these that prompt former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman to jump to Romo's defense when folks bash him. 

Romo may very well lead Dallas back to the promised land, but then again, he might always be the guy who chokes in big-game situations.

With this in mind, Dallas absolutely must take a quarterback in the first couple of rounds when the NFL draft kicks off in late April. Romo cannot get too comfortable being "the guy" for the Cowboys. It would serve him and the team well to bring in a young signal-caller to push him to get better.

Or take over if he continues to struggle when the bright lights are upon him.

The expectations are always high in Dallas, as they should be. Great teams are forged upon the principle of competition, though, and Romo hasn't had any of that going on since he became the team's starter back in 2006. 

It's time for Dallas to finally draft another quarterback, just in case Romo's not the man to lead the team to a title. 

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