AP

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has made it clear — such that this season hasn’t — that he needs to find a viable backup to quarterback Tony Romo.

But how he fills that job remains to be seen.

With Romo suffering another broken clavicle and out for the year (though not on IR yet), the Cowboys are on pace for a premium draft pick, sitting fourth in the order if the season ended today.

But Jones downplayed the likelihood of using such a high pick on a passer.

“Well, I don’t know about first round, necessarily, at all,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Half of the first-round picks that are made, don’t work. That’s not negative, they just don’t work, so we have to keep that in mind.

“There’s no doubt that we will be, as we move forward, continuing to try to get a situation where if Romo should get hurt, then we got a guy that can step in and carry us for some games, hopefully — that’s a backup description I’m dealing with there — or at the same time, be developing for the future.”

The Cowboys have used only two draft picks on quarterbacks since 1991 (when they had some guy named Troy Aikman), the 2001 second-rounder on Quincy Carter and the 2009 fourth on Stephen McGee.

Jones even seemed to cite his own desire to take Johnny Manziel two years ago as evidence against using a first-rounder on a passer. But the reality is, the Cowboys can’t watch what happened this year, and think some collection Brandon Weedens or Matt Cassels or whatever name they pull out of a hat next year is going to suffice.