PHOENIX – The most-discussed topic of the Cowboys' offseason – Tony Romo's uncertain future with the organization – remains unchanged since the end of the 2016 season.
The veteran quarterback is under contract, and there's no apparent timeline for a resolution as the end of March nears.
"It's a situation that we're working through. He and Jerry Jones are the principal people in working that situation through," Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said Tuesday from the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix. "And it's really been status quo."
Jones said Tuesday that there's active, "good communication" with Romo and the two are on "great terms."
The Cowboys' owner/general manager said he has visited with Romo within the last couple of days and will continue to meet with him "periodically over the next days and weeks ahead."
"I certainly don't want to represent anything as to how he feels," Jones said. "But I feel good about how we're doing, 'we're' being the Cowboys, me and Tony. I feel very good about it."
Romo, the team's franchise quarterback since 2006, lost his job to rookie Dak Prescott last season – first due to an August preseason back injury, then for the remainder of the season as Prescott led the Cowboys on an 11-game winning streak and the top seed in the NFC playoffs.
Prescott, a fourth-round pick last April, established himself as the team's present and future with leadership beyond his NFL experience and remarkably efficient play: he became first rookie and only the second player in NFL history (Tom Brady) to pass for at least 3,500 yards with fewer than five interceptions.
He was named the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year in February.
"He's always prepared, he's always ready for any situation, he's got great poise and composure," Garrett said. "He has great confidence in himself and he's able to transfer that confidence to the people around him."
Prescott's rise has relegated Romo, 36, to a backup role for the first time since his fourth NFL season with the club. It's a unique situation given his accomplishments with the franchise (he's the all-time passing yardage leader) and his contract status (he has a current $24.7 million cap hit for 2017).[embeddedad0]
No matter what the ultimate resolution is, the Cowboys maintain they aren't pressed by a self-imposed deadline.
Reports surfaced on March 8 that the club intended to release Romo on the March 9 start of the new league year. That didn't happen, though speculation rages on regarding possible outcomes. Release? Trade? The prospect of retirement amid reports of potential broadcasting opportunities?
Jones declined to address hypotheticals Tuesday.
"I don't want to get into anything he's thinking, but we're in good communication," Jones said. "Just as a I said, basically looking at it and recognizing it's the offseason, we don't have anything imminent that's pushing us.
"There's no waiting game. This is the offseason. We're not missing doing anything. From the standpoint of the franchise and the Cowboys, nothing is being held up here at all."
At the NFL Scouting Combine in early March, Jones said he didn't rule out yet another scenario: the possibility of Romo remaining with the Cowboys in 2017. He is signed through the 2019 season.
"No ship has sailed," Jones said. "It's just like it was when the season was over. There is no ship that has sailed as far as I'm aware of regarding his multiple opportunities."
