The Sports Xchange

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who last month at a fundraiser boldly promised a Super Bowl win, now sees a longer career with the team building one of the best offensive lines in the league.

The 35-year-old Romo believes the Cowboys’ new offensive line will help extend his years in the NFL.

“When you have a good offensive line like we do the thought definitely crosses your mind to ensure you do everything possible to play longer than maybe what you had envisioned,” Romo told the Dallas Morning News at Emmitt Smith’s Celebrity Invitational Gala on Friday. “We’ll reassess that in a few years. My wife will tell you, I’m talking a little more long term than I maybe had been. So we’ll see.”

Romo also was involved when owner and general manager Jerry Jones landed offensive lineman La’el Collins, a former LSU first-round prospect who went undrafted.

Romo, who avoided offseason back surgery for the first time in two years, could be looking at playing past the age of 40 with better protection from the offensive line. Romo is signed through 2019, when he will be 39.

Romo had two back surgeries in 2013 and missed one game last year with two transverse process fractures. His sacks dropped from 35 in 2013 to 29 in 2014, with an increased focus on the running game.

“I just think the way Jason (Garrett) and Stephen (Jones) and Jerry have built this team over the last three or four years has been from the inside out and you’re seeing the benefits of that,” Romo said. “We’re still going. This wasn’t a one-year, two — we’re building this for the next five, six, seven years to sustain and any time you get an opportunity to get a guy like Collins you should take advantage of that.”

Collins signed with the Cowboys on Thursday after he went undrafted due to concerns about his involvement in a murder the week before the 2015 NFL Draft. Police interviewed Collins but said he was never a suspect in the murder of his former girlfriend.

Romo was involved in the recruitment dinner to convince Collins, who could have signed with any NFL team, to come to Dallas.

“Very few people are afforded that,” Romo said of Collins being able to pick his team. “I feel lucky and blessed now. If you’re going to be a player … there are benefits to picking your team. We all want to go in the first round but that doesn’t happen. You can look at it anyway you want but it still ended up being a very good thing for him.”

In April, Romo told a crowd in his acceptance speech for the Nancy Lieberman Lifetime Achievement Award, that “we’re going to win a Super Bowl next year.”

On Friday, Romo downplayed his prediction.

“Did anybody else see that?” Romo said. “I gave a speech and at the end it was, ‘everybody let’s go get excited.’ It was a great event. People were excited. I’ve said plenty of things before.”