Other than the Patriots and Rams, the biggest winner from Sunday’s championship games was Tony Romo. The CBS analyst has been the consummate pro, succinctly explaining the things viewers aren’t able to tell and telling us what will happen next based on the signs and formations he notices before the snap. During the Patriots-Chiefs game, Romo sounded like he was in the Patriots huddle calling everything they were doing before it happened that the Chiefs could’ve won if they had a live CBS feed.
Naturally, this prompted our minds to go wild and think about what else Romo could do. Clearly, Romo is brilliant at studying game film and by retiring in 2016, Romo is one of the few current analysts who played in an era where he’s played with modern offensive schemes. I like Dan Fouts but there’s just some things a person who retired three years ago can instinctively point out pre-snap that someone who retired back in 1987 cannot.
If Romo can study film among the best, and be able to teach that to his players like he does for us at home, could someone hire Romo as an assistant or a head coach? I mean, Romo does have value to a team who really wants to beat the Patriots. Last night’s performance sure got some notable people to propose the possibility.
Great commentating by Tony Romo. He should be a coach. He called out everything that they were doing.
— Emmanuel Sanders (@ESanders_10) January 21, 2019
You know what: the coach that needed to be hired in the NFL is @tonyromo. Listen to this man. This is pure football genius. He’s calling —literally calling — plays before they happen.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) January 21, 2019
Some NFL team next offseason is going to make an offer to Tony Romo to be their head coach. A real student of the game. Chiefs had no clue. Romo saw it allhttps://t.co/usWccQJcyk
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) January 21, 2019
It’s not a bad idea and it makes sense on paper but let’s pump the brakes on this a bit. Romo may be a great analyst but that doesn’t automatically mean a successful coaching career. Case in point, look at Jon Gruden after leaving the MNF booth to go back into coaching and take charge of the Raiders.
In addition, I’m not sure Romo even wants to be a coach. He seems rather happy to be in the booth with Jim Nantz doing what he does. An analyst may be doing a lot of research and studying like a coach but analysts get to have an actual break in the offseason and get to be at home while they study. After three or so days of travel, the rest of the week is spent at home. Coaches work all year and practically live at the facility breaking down game film. Win or lose, Bill Belichick is going to be hard at work the morning after the Super Bowl preparing for next season. That’s what a coach does; they don’t have a life.
A team could offer Romo a lot of money. I’m sure Jerry Jones would back an armored truck up to Romo’s house to get him to come back to Dallas. But I have to imagine CBS is also paying a premium for Romo so unless it’s a deal like what Gruden got (and it may need to be more), Romo wouldn’t go for the money. As much as it would sound cool that he would take a coaching job, Tony Romo isn’t going to be doing that anytime soon.
Having said that, I’ve learned to never say never. Romo is 38 and could conceivably be an analyst or a coach over the next 30 years. It should be considered that the longer Romo is retired as a quarterback, it’ll be tougher for him to discover and point out what will happen as offensive schemes evolve, and that would lose some of his appeal. But there will probably be a demand for Romo and he knows that he is in demand both in TV and in coaching. As long as he keeps having fun no matter what he does, Romo should have no regrets.