Tony Romo reportedly expects that the Dallas Cowboys will release him, but is not demanding they do so.

According to a recent report by CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, the four-time pro bowler is weighing his options for 2017, but at no point made any demands of the club. One of the options in play, sources tell La Canfora, is a restructuring of his current deal to help facilitate a trade.

"The thought of going to a rebuilding team obviously doesn’t make much sense at this point in his career, and being flexible with regard to massaging his contract to work within the cap constraints of a contending team is something to which he’s open."

The Cowboys are still looking to land some type of assets for Romo, potentially a third rounder or more, in a trade of some sort -- but a release is the next logical option if no deal materializes with another team.

A large part of the issue in any possible trade is Romo's hefty contract. He's set to make a base salary of $14M with a $5M signing bonus in 2017, a contract that hits the Cowboys' salary cap for a whopping $24.7M.

If traded or designated as a pre-June 1 release, the team will be forced to eat $19.6M in dead money but would save $5.1M against the cap. Designating him as a post-June 1 release would do Romo no favors whatsoever as it relates to finding a new home, but would up the cap savings in Dallas to $14M as the dead money drops to $8.9M.

And that's quite a difference.

When it comes to the supposed "massaging" of the contract assisting the Cowboys, however, Insider Mike Fisher says pump the brakes.

Nope. This is the misleading part about the 'massage' takes. It doesn't help the #Cowboys at all. https://t.co/HXe1yw7kyr — mike fisher ? (@fishsports) February 20, 2017

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As it stands, a post-June 1 release would also allow the team to split the cap hit over the next two years, furthering the logic in holding off if a release is imminent.

That, however, puts Romo in the precarious position of looking to land on a Super Bowl contending team as teams prepare for OTAs and training camp. While that's possible, the odds would certainly not be in his favor. And to dunk a myth quickly here, retirement by Romo with an attached restructuring doesn't eliminate the dead money hit.

It's called dead money for a reason.

It's dead.

In other words, the money has already been paid to the veteran QB and can only be recovered if Romo chooses to repay it to the Cowboys -- and, well, good luck with that.

Jerry Jones contends the Cowboys and Romo will "get through this" as they look for a solution that is amicable to all sides, and time will tell what that turns out to be. The most likely scenario still remains a release, but it's clear a trade is still an option.

It seems the only expectation Romo has is to be a starter for someone in 2017, nothing more.