Jerry Jones believes he can talk Tony Romo out of leaving Dallas

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones really, truly believes he can find a way to keep Tony Romo in Dallas.

Jones accepts that Romo will never be comfortable being a backup quarterback, but he told Gary Myers of the New York Daily News that he firmly believes he can convince his veteran quarterback to stay with the team for 2017.

“I think Tony is going to compete. He will never accept it,” Jones said. “But do I think it is possible that he could be in Dallas and it’s good for him and good for us and be the smart thing to do? How many times have we ever seen one drawn up where you see that kind of depth at the quarterback position? How many times do you have to be reminded if we had the concussion protocol the way we had it today, Troy Aikman wouldn’t have played in the second Super Bowl.”

When all is said and done, Jones believes he can persuade Romo to adopt that role.

“I do,” he said. “I think if I ask Tony to go with us on that and let’s try to win a championship, I think, yes, he will.”

That’s some serious optimism. Romo has lost his job to Dak Prescott, who doesn’t look like he’s going to be giving it up. We also know that Romo wanted to try to win his starting job back this season. Jones may just be engaging in some wishful thinking here. It’s hard to imagine Romo being fine with a backup role if a trade opportunity becomes available.