Klis: Super Bowl, not money, priority if Romo wants Broncos job

The wait to see who blinks first, Jerry Jones or a Dallas Cowboys trade partner for Tony Romo, continues. And it could for some time.

Jones, 9News Denver Broncos Insider Mike Klis told “The Drive” on Thursday, is likely to try to salvage some value for Romo via trade. If that’s the case, Denver’s out.

If speculation that Dallas will release Romo on March 9, and give him a June 1 designation that would split up the dead money against the Cowboys cap, comes true, then Denver could be interested.

But at the Broncos’ price.

“They wouldn’t be interested in paying Tony Romo $18 million-plus. In that case, Paxton Lynch is their guy. They’ve got a first-round draft pick,” Klis said.

“Now, Tony Romo wants to win, and that’s where Elway’s going to try to sell Romo. Romo’s already made a lot of money. He’ll pay him $10 million, maybe they can do something in year two if he leads them to the Super Bowl.”

Klis said that if earlier reports that Romo’s interested in Broncos, that means winning a Super Bowl is the veteran quarterback’s priority, not his contract.

“The Broncos at max wouldn’t want to pay him more than $10 million a year for maybe two years, I would think,” Klis said. “I’m guessing here along with John Elway. I’d be surprised if anybody wants Romo for more than $10 million a year, and his contract calls for quite a bit more than that.”

And if Denver should land Romo, they’d likely want no more than a two- or three-year deal, Klis said, because they want 2016 first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch to start by year four at the latest.

“Romo would be a two-year deal, and because of Paxton Lynch, you wouldn’t have him for any longer than that. And you would want to take a shot at the Super Bowl with that guy like you did with Peyton Manning,” Klis said.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.