Tony Romo quitting football for broadcasting gig

April 4 (UPI) -- Veteran quarterback Tony Romo is ditching his professional football career to go into broadcasting.

The Dallas Cowboys gunslinger will retire and be released Tuesday by the franchise, league sources told ESPN.

Romo told the NFL Network that he "still has the itch, [but] both those chances are too good to pass up."

CBS, Fox, and NBC have all expressed interest in the quarterback. Romo, 36, was a 4-time Pro Bowl selection during his 13-year career. He lost his starting job in 2016 to rookie Dak Prescott after sustaining a compression fracture in his back during the preseason. He has dealt with back and collarbone issues throughout the past two seasons.

Romo had a 78-49 record as a starter, completing 65.3 percent of his career attempts for 34,183 yards, 248 touchdowns, and 117 interceptions.

He owns the No. 4 passer rating in NFL history.

The Cowboys were planning to cut Romo last month on the first day of the new league year before deciding to keep him. He had mostly been linked to the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans, but neither team was willing to trade for the oft-injured gunslinger. Multiple outlets have reported over the past month that Romo's two most likely options were playing for the Texans or retiring from the game.

Romo was originally due $14 million in 2017, in the fifth year of a seven-year, $119.5 million-pact he signed in 2013.

A day after he notified NFL general managers that they were allowed to talk to Romo regarding a trade, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will likely be designating the quarterback as a post-June 1 release. He will count as $10.7 million against the salary cap this season and $8.9 million agains the cap in 2018.