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IRVING, Tex. -- Quarterback Tony Romo stated the obvious on exit day Monday. The Dallas Cowboys' dreadful 2015 season was a frustrating season, a disappointing season and a forgettable season. "It was just a disappointing year for everybody," said Romo, who talked to the media at Valley Ranch for the first time since Thanksgiving Day. "It obviously was a very ... just wasn't a great year."
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Romo played only 226 snaps this season. He made it through two full games and parts of two others. The Cowboys went 4-12, including 1-11 with three backup quarterbacks.
Clearly things would have different if Rome would have stayed healthy. But he didn't want to go down that road.
"You don't want to live in the world of what ifs," said Romo, who finished 83-of-121 for 884 yards with five touchdowns and seven interceptions. "It happened; it's unfortunate. We all knew when you come back what the reality of a collarbone situation is. But you know, I think we'll take steps, and do some things to make sure that doesn't happen. You'll see us hopefully play at a much higher level going forward."
The Cowboys waited until they were eliminated from postseason contention before placing Romo on season-ending injured reserve. Although Romo's fractured left collarbone isn't fully healed yet, almost six weeks since he reinjured it against the Panthers, Romo insists he would have played in the playoffs.
"Yeah, I would have figured out a way obviously to get back out there," Romo said. "That's what we play the game for, playing those games. It's disappointing that we're not in that part of it right now. Believe me, we're going to do everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Romo first fractured his left collarbone in Week 2. He missed seven games before returning Nov. 22. But Romo fractured the collarbone again on Thanksgiving. Romo missed 10 games in 2010 with the same injury.
He could undergo surgery to have a plate inserted to help prevent further injury to his collarbone. Romo said a decision will be made this month.
"It's not a 'for sure,'" Romo said. "That's a thing that we'll look at the scan and see how it's improving, and then we'll make decisions. But there's more options. It's not just that."
Romo has not played all 16 games in a season since 2012, and he turns 36 in April.
--Defensive end Greg Hardy wants to come back to Dallas next year. That much is a given. The question is whether the Cowboys want to bring back the controversial defensive end and all his baggage.
"Who wouldn't want to be a Cowboy?" Hardy said after the Cowboys' 34-23 loss to the Washington Redskins in the season finale.
But did Hardy do enough to warrant a return?
Hardy, 27, finished with six sacks, recording only two over the final eight games. He had only one tackle and one quarterback hit in the finale against the Redskins.
If Hardy would have gotten two more sacks, he could have triggered a $500,000 incentive bonus in his contract.
He never became the difference-maker the Cowboys envisioned.
"I'm not the GM," he said. "If I was the GM, then I would be applying for that job. I can't answer that question. You'd have to ask the GM."
Owner Jerry Jones said Hardy made a positive impact on the field even though the stat book might not suggest it. But Jones wouldn't acknowledge if he wanted him back.
"He was an outstanding player and we may not have gotten his individual sack total up, but he made an impact across the board," Jones said. "He was a good player for us, and we'll evaluate real close any good player."
The Cowboys gambled on Hardy last offseason, taking a public relations hit in order to boost their pass rush.
Hardy had been involved in a May 2014 domestic violence incident, and spent all but one game on the commissioner's exempt list last season with the Carolina Panthers. The Cowboys signed him last March knowing that Hardy would face a suspension going into this season, which ended up being a four-game suspension after appeal.
On top of the suspension, Hardy provided plenty of headaches for the Cowboys. On four different occasions, the team had to meet with Hardy on various issues, including two social media posts and an altercation with an assistant coach.
Head coach Jason Garrett certainly didn't want to talk about Hardy at length on Monday during his season-ending news conference. Judging by his answers and reactions to Hardy questions, it's easy to draw a conclusion that Garrett may not want Hardy back.
"I thought Greg did some good things for us on the field," Garrett said. "Defended the run well at times. Impacted the quarterback at different times during the game."
That was all Garrett really wanted to say about Hardy, and wasn't ready to speculate on whether he would welcome Hardy back.
Asked if the multiple meetings with Hardy eventually paid off, Garrett said, "I think with all your players, what you're trying to do is you're trying to coach them every way that you can. Try to coach them on the field. You try to coach them off the field.
"You try to be a positive influence. You try to create the right environment for them to be their best. Hopefully some of those things that we've done with all members of our football team have had a positive impact on him."
--Running back Darren McFadden was one of the bright spots in a down Cowboys season. He became the seventh player in franchise history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season early in Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins at AT&T Stadium. He finished the season with 1,089 yards on 239 carries. It was the second most yards of his career and career in carries.
He had five 100-yard rushing games this season, including 152 yards on on 29 carries at the New York Giants on Oct. 25. McFadden is only the sixth Cowboys player to gain 1,000 or more yards in a single season. He joins Emmitt Smith (11 times), Tony Dorsett (8), Calvin Hill (2), Herschel Walker, DeMarco Murray and Julius Jones (1).
McFadden had missed 29 games with 15 different injuries in his seven seasons with the Oakland Raiders, before signing with the Cowboys in the offseason. The former Arkansas standout had produced only one 1,000-yard rushing season (2010) in the NFL before Sunday's game.
He assumed the lead-back role from the since-departed Joseph Randle in the Cowboys' sixth game against the New York Giants, and thrived ever since.
--Wide receiver Dez Bryant has not yet had a date set for offseason surgeries on his foot and ankle, but owner Jerry Jones is confident Bryant will be ready for offseason workouts and training camp. The Cowboys can begin offseason workouts on April 18.
"What I am told is that he shouldn't miss any of our organized offseason work and certainly not training camp," Jones said after the Cowboys dropped the regular-season finale 34-23 to the Washington Redskins on Sunday.
"Nothing about what we might do with his ankle or additional help in his bone graft doing better, that that's going to limit him on getting back in time for that - maybe a little early weight work. That type of thing."
Bryant initially injured his foot in the season opener, fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, commonly known as a Jones fracture. He missed the next five games, and had a bone graft inserted to help the healing process. Bryant also had a stem cell injection in October to enhance the healing.
Bryant returned in Week 8 against Seattle, catching two passes for 12 yards. He injured his right ankle and left knee the following week against Philadelphia on a touchdown catch.
Bryant played with both injuries the next six games before being held out of last week's 16-6 loss at Buffalo. The Cowboys the ended his season by placing him on injured reserve, marking the least productive season in Bryant's career.
Bryant finished the year with 31 catches for 401 yards with three touchdowns in nine games.
--Cornerback Brandon Carr may or may not be back with the Cowboys. He could be a cap casualty.
For now, though, Carr is under contract with the organization and is keeping his same approach going into the offseason.
"It's always an unknown," Carr said of his status following Sunday's regular-season finale against Washington. "This is a business. That's what it is. Every year, the locker room is going to change. Pretty much every day locker rooms change. It's turnover.
"You can't fear it. You just control what you can control. You just continue to work - work hard, be in the community and give it my all."
Carr is going into the final year of a five-year, $50.1 million contract he signed prior to the 2012 season. He has a base salary of $9.1 million in 2016 with a cap hit of $13.817 million. Technically, the Cowboys have him signed through 2017, but the final year is voidable.
But the Cowboys can save more than $9 million in cap room by cutting him after June 1. Carr's cap hit would drop from $13.817 million to $4.717 million, thus Carr could be cut.
Carr is coming off a second consecutive season without an interception. He finished with six passes defended and 72 tackles.
--Linebacker Sean Lee showed the ultimate leadership on Sunday when he took himself out of the season finale and cost himself $2 million.
Lee had to play in 80 percent of the snaps this season in order to bump his $3 million base salary to $5 million. He said after the game that the decision was his and that he felt trying to force things wouldn't have helped his team.
"It was absolute - 100 percent a hamstring injury," he said. "I didn't feel like I was going to be effective to help the football team. The problem was that it was so close to the game. If I had a couple of more days, then maybe I could have played.
"If today was the Super Bowl, then maybe you try the best you can to get out there, but I would have been running at about 75 percent. I hadn't tested it at all since Thursday and you know that if it bites at all, it's probably not going to warm up."
