FanShot

Adrian Peterson, Johnny Football, and Jerry the Football Man

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In his suite during the George Strait concert, Jones introduces me to Romo, who asks the subject of this story. Jones answers for me: "Passin' on Manziel for Romo." The surprise decision reveals something not widely understood about his boss, Romo says: He selected a sound fundamentals player needed to improve the offense, not the high-risk matinee idol of the draft. "More than anything," Romo explains, "it just shows a lot of people that we're here to win -- not just be a flashy program." Jones is beaming. He returns the sell: "And what is amazing," Jones says, "if there's anybody on this planet that could've handled Manziel competin' with him ..." Jones drapes his left arm on Romo's right shoulder. "This guy could handle any damn thing -- this is your fighter pilot. This is your fighter pilot. This is the guy you want goin' in, droppin' and winkin' at 'em, and comin' out, and drinkin' beer. This is him. So he could handle it. It wasn't a question of not handlin' it." The analogy, such as it is, puts a smile on Romo's face. He takes a long pull on his Miller Lite bottle. But during our initial conversation at the Ritz-Carlton several weeks earlier, Jones spoke longingly about Manziel's potential benefits to the Cowboys long term. "If we had picked Manziel, he'd guarantee our relevance for 10 years," Jones says. America's Team needed Johnny Manziel to be ... relevant?