Cowboys wasting draft picks

[ConstantReboot]

He helped draft him but goodness.....what coach in their right mind would hand over their franchise to a undrafted rookie free agent who had never started a NFL game in his life as opposed to Drew Brees who was still young and had some good years in him with the Chargers?

Well maybe just maybe they were thinking in case Brees gets injured that they have a reliable backup to work with. Some coaches and some teams actually put backup QB as a top priority rather than take from other team rejects.

 

[Dodger12]

Ummm.... no. Where did you hear this at? Romo hadn't even started a game yet and they were going to give him the keys to their franchise?

Yes. Payton knew what Romo was and tried to trade for him before he got Brees. I also think the Jets offered a draft pick for Romo but Jerry wanted a 2nd rounder while the Jets were offering a 3rd (or something to that effect). Not 100% sure of the latter but Payton absolutely wanted Romo and Brees was his second choice.

 

[Dodger12]

He helped draft him but goodness.....what coach in their right mind would hand over their franchise to a undrafted rookie free agent who had never started a NFL game in his life as opposed to Drew Brees who was still young and had some good years in him with the Chargers?

Because Brees was coming off major shoulder surgery and he was a huge question mark. And the Chargers believed so much in Brees that they drafted Rivers. It's really not that hard to believe and it wasn't all that long ago.

 

[arglebargle]

The timeline went 'tried to trade for Romo', and when that fell through it went to 'started wooing Brees'. Brees wasn't a sure thing at that point, and Payton had insider knowledge on Romo.

If Payton had given up the 2nd round pick (or the Cowboys taken the 3rd), it would probably rank up there with the Favre trade.