Troy Aikman is convinced that either Johnny Manziel or Robert Griffin III will wind up in Dallas backing up Tony Romo next season, but will they play?
That all comes down to Romo staying on the field, which is no sure thing after he was lost with two separate clavicle injuries this past season.
"I think the collarbone certainly is a concern," Aikman said Wednesday on NFL HQ. "He's broken it now three times in, I believe, the last five years. As you mentioned, they're going to go in, they're going to put a plate in. That should strengthen it, is that going to be enough? I don't know."
Said Aikman: "He has not taken a lot of hits and this year he broke it twice and he wasn't hit very much so he has missed some time and as a guy who continues to get older -- and I certainly know as a quarterback that it's harder to come back -- it's harder to play week in and week out as you get older."
Aikman credited Romo with playing "as good as anybody in the league" when he's healthy, but that's the catch, isn't it?
Losing him last season sent Dallas down an uninviting wormhole that saw a sandwich of far-from-stellar passers -- Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore -- all make starts for a lost Cowboys operation.
The assumption that Griffin or Manziel will save the team is equally rich, but why not? The Cowboys could go 0-16 and still be rewarded with five games on national television, so why not lace the roster with the league's most lightning-rod passers?
Bottom line: Next season can't get here fast enough.