CLEVELAND, OH – NOVEMBER 06: Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys looks on from the sideline in the first half against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on November 6, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

Tony Romo is no longer with the Cowboys, but his future remains up in the air.

While he makes sense for a few different NFL teams as a quarterback, FOX is reportedly lining him up as a replacement for the recently departed John Lynch. (Well, Lynch isn’t dead, of course. But he does now work for Jed York, so maybe that’s worse?)

That’s according to this report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who is just all over the place this week:

That feels like a bit of a stretch for this year, unless Romo is truly set on retirement. Even if he doesn’t want to sign with Denver or Houston to start the season, if he still thinks there’s a chance he wants to play, he could wait to see if a contender suffers an injury at some point during the season.

Romo could also just want to take some time away from the grind of the league, though obviously it’s a different sort of grind in the broadcast booth than on the field of play. (Kevin Burkhardt is much less likely to lower the boom on Romo from the blind side, for example. Though that’s a hilarious visual.)

So Romo obviously has options. And if he does want to make this move, it’d likely be a boon for viewers. The best analysts tend to be players or coaches just out of the game, who know the current players and teams. (This crosses all sports, too; Terry Francona’s World Series in relief of Tim McCarver a few years ago was amazing.)

Of course, there’s another just-released quarterback contemplating whether or not to sign with a team or retire who would make an even better color commentator.

Just imagine Jay Cutler in the booth. Please imagine it. First of all, he’s more engaging than he gets credit for. Second, imagine relatively unfiltered Cutler, just firing off takes with the same lack of discrimination he sometimes demonstrated in the pocket. That, not Romo, would be a dream scenario for viewers.

[ESPN]

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.