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At 8-1, the Dallas Cowboys are not only the best team now in the NFC East but with their eighth straight victory, they are now the best team in the entire NFC and don’t look like a team slowing down anytime soon.

With this kind of success, Tony Romo will be relegated to the backup duties with Dak Prescott firmly in control as the team’s starting quarterback for now and for the future and ultimately, could be the starting quarterback who leads them to the postseason.

Most figured that Romo would eventually resume the starting quarterback duties if Prescott struggled and lost a couple of game, but since their Week 1 loss to the New York Giants, Prescott has led Dallas on an impressive run over the last two months; a run that likely ends with them back in the postseason with the rookie at the helm.

So what now for Romo, who has been the team’s starting quarterback since the 2006 season?

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He has three years left on his current deal after the 2016 season and has a dead cap number of $19.6 million, so releasing him after the season is over doesn’t seem likely. Dallas could wait until the 2018 season when Romo’s cap number is down to $8.9 million to release him, but does Dallas want to carry his salary for the 2017 season?

Probably not, especially when proven starting quarterbacks who have won in the league are at a premium. And it’s why the Cowboys should and ultimately could consider trading Romo after the 2016 season for a team in dire need of quarterback help.

Despite Romo being injury prone, he’s a proven winner (at least in the regular season, he is), and would have teams interested in his services. Teams like the New York Jets, Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings, who have all had quarterback issues or players go down to injuries and might look to an established veteran like Romo.

If you are wondering who might trade to get Romo considering his age, contract and durability concerns, look at it this way:Robert Griffin III got guaranteed money from the Cleveland Browns to be their starter heading into Week 1 and he had been relegated to the bench over the last few years with the Washington Redskins.

The Minnesota Vikings traded a first round draft pick to land Sam Bradford from the Philadelphia Eagles after the Teddy Bridgewater injury this past summer. Romo, when healthy, is better than both RG3 and Bradford and could easily get a job if he were available and probably would net a decent return in a trade.

But the key phrase is, “when healthy,” which, over the last couple of seasons, hasn’t been very often and with Dallas seeming to be set with Prescott for the present and for the future, Romo’s future in Dallas doesn’t seem for long.

So the best resolution at the end of this would be for the Cowboys to put him on the market come the spring time and see which one of the teams around the league is still in need of a starting quarterback and look to make a trade with them.

And while Romo would be a gamble for a team to take, he might be the right fit for a team in dire need of a veteran quarterback whose had success in the NFL.