The Cowboys never did find their quarterback of the future this offseason, and didn’t do much to find a qualified veteran backup.
But they still think they’re safer in case anything happens to Tony Romo again this year, thanks to drafting running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones told Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com that drafting Elliott was viewed as protection in case their 36-year-old quarterback has another mishap after last year’s broken collarbone.
“So if Tony were to go down for two or three weeks, we hope now we can salvage some games,” Jones said. “It’s one reason why we invested in Ezekiel. You look at it, and if you can help with your run game, you can do some things offensively that take pressure off the quarterback. That can help.
“We won without Tony before. [Jon] Kitna and [Kyle] Orton won games. It’s not like it’s something we haven’t done. Can you win them all? No. Can you win a championship without Tony? Probably not. But Zeke gives us a much better chance.”
Jones compared making the Ohio State running back the fourth overall pick was the equivalent of trading for wide receiver Joey Galloway when Troy Aikman was on the back side of his career.
And while the Cowboys are probably still in a bad way if Romo goes down, the hope is that Kellen Moore or Dak Prescott can hand it to Elliott often enough to prevent a disaster.
