Jason Witten constantly calls Tony Romo an elite quarterback and one of the game's best. Romo's harshest critics argue that the Dallas Cowboys quarterback isn't among the top 10 at his position.
I disagree with both and think Romo falls somewhere between the two. He's not on the elite level with Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, but there also aren't 15 quarterbacks better than him.
In my most recent QB ranking I had Romo at No. 9.
This week, ESPN's Mike Sando published a QB ranking with help from 26 anonymous league insiders. Romo was in the second tier of QBs, tied for eighth with Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson and Eli Manning.
Sando received grades from eight general managers, two former GMs, four pro personnel evaluators, seven coordinators, two head coaches, two position coaches and a top executive.
And the opinions varied from one GM calling Romo "one of the top 10 starters in the league" to a pro personnel evaluator saying, "I absolutely believe they will not win big with him. As soon as he decides it's a clutch moment, his brain goes elsewhere. He loses focus and tries to create something."
Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Andrew Luck and the four quarterbacks mentioned earlier were ranked ahead of Romo.
