Jones: Keeping Romo on roster avoids 'circumcising the mosquito'

Jerry Jones says his Dallas Cowboys won't eliminate the possibility of Tony Romo returning early from injury by placing the quarterback on IR.

Romo is expected back anywhere from six-to-10 weeks from now. The Cowboys could save a roster spot by putting Romo on IR, but then the earliest Romo would be eligible to return would be after eight weeks.

Jones justified the decision to use a roster spot on an injured player by saying the Cowboys can't find anyone better to give that spot to.

"I don't want to rule out anything," Jones said Tuesday on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan, according to Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram. "I don’t know that anybody is qualified to do that. Medicine basically gives you estimates and guidelines, and I’m not trying to be vague here, but there's no need to rule out anything. We don't have a situation on the 53, this isn't an active roster day-game situation. He won't be active, and we don't have anybody valuable enough to take up that last spot to give us the opportunity to see how he does. There's just not enough value there realistically to bring someone else in. That's the deciding factor."

While expanding on his rationale, Jones used a metaphor that's probably never been deployed before in a discussion about NFL injuries.

"You don't have to spend a lot of time going over and kind of circumcising the mosquito. You don't have to do that over there on him because you look back over on the other side that caused you to make the decision, and there's nobody good enough to take that spot to give you a chance for that if he can come back."