Romo's Fantasy Island

The 2012 NFL season is upon us as the Dallas Cowboys opened with an impressive – and at times sloppy – victory over the defending champion New York Giants.  The win revealed an emotional ambiguity within my heart, my inconsistent and tormented relationship with Tony Romo.

 

There have been plenty of times over the past five years or so where I have been more than willing to part ways with the chaotic charm of Romo’s play.  But I believe my expectations were misjudged.  At this point, I have come to recognize that Tony Romo is a really good quarterback, who makes players around him also really good.  Such a quality is typically understated when it comes to quarterbacks, and only a handful of players receive this synergistic characterization (Brady, Manning, Brees, Rodgers). 

Now, I am not putting Romo in the “elite” category of the quarterbacks previously mentioned (no ring…), but with the revelation of Kevin Ogletree the other night, Romo deserves some praise.  Since he has been the starter, Romo has effectively used his slot receiver, making them into overachieving players.  In a time where fantasy is all the rage, this gives Romo a unique value over most of his peers.

Patrick Crayton (drafted in the seventh round), Miles Austin (undrafted), Laurent Robinson (third round before becoming an NFL journeyman), and now Kevin Ogletree (undrafted).  These four receivers, with low expectations, all achieved their greatest season (up to now) and moved quite beyond expectations with Tony Romo as their quarterback.  The value with this blog post along with Romo is strictly on a fantasy level… which is what it is… (Aah, why can’t he win a Superbowl!?!)

Here is my advice, pick up Kevin Ogletree. 

Crayton’s breakout season in 2007, had Romo throwing him seven touchdowns with nearly 700 receiving yards – which was pretty good considering Romo was also heavily targeting both Terrell Owens and Jason Witten that year.  In 2009, Austin’s breakout year, he racked up 11 touchdowns and 1,320 receiving yards.  Last year, Robinson finally justified his third round draft status with the help of Romo, by accruing 11 touchdowns and 858 receiving yards.  These are pretty remarkable stats for “mere” slot receivers. 

And they have Tony Romo to thank.  Both Crayton and Robinson received significant contract raises once they became free agents from other teams.  (Crayton has significantly underperformed, failing to become a number two receiver, and we can only assume that Robinson will decline with Blaine “Failure” Gabbert throwing to him.)  Austin also received a nice contract from the Cowboys and is now one of the more recognizable persons on one of the most popular teams in professional sports.  Although only time will tell if Ogletree will produce similar stats as his predecessors – this may be difficult as he’s behind Dez Bryant, Austin, and Witten (albeit declining and spleenless… sorta) – but he is certainly worth a pick-up.  Will Romo ever win a Superbowl?  I don’t know.  I hope so.  But will he help produce some really good, unheard of, fantasy receivers?  History says yes.  And at the height of fantasy football’s influence upon the NFL and its fans, history may regard Tony Romo as one of the better quarterbacks of his generation…