Word on the street in some NFL circles is that Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo isn’t actually close to inking a five-year, $10 million deal with Starter for shoe and apparel marketing.

As we’re hearing the rumors from a league insider with experience regarding such matters and who is plugged into the rumor mill in this regard, the talk is that the Romo camp floated the Starter offer to Reebok in an effort to get an equivalent or bigger deal from Reebok.  But Reebok didn’t think that the Starter offer was legit, and so Reebok leaked it to the media.

There’s also a rumor that one or more folks from Starter, which officially had no comment in the Liz Mullen story from SportsBusiness Journal, are now privately saying that there is no such pending or potential offer to Romo.

If these rumors are true, it makes sense.  Since Starter doesn’t have a shoe or apparel deal with the NFL, Romo can’t wear Starter stuff during games or at press conferences.  And Starter can’t use images of Romo in his Cowboys gear for commercials, print ads, or (hopefully) Internet ads.

We need to reiterate that these are rumors, not fact.