National Football League

Kitna to donate Cowboys salary to high school where he's now a coach

Published Dec. 26, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

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Jon Kitna will earn $53,000 to serve as the Cowboys' third-string quarterback for one week - and he plans to donate that money to the Seattle-area high school where he's now a coach.

Kitna told The Dallas Morning News of his plans Wednesday.

Kitna retired after the 2011 season, his 15th in the league, and was coaching football at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Wash., this season when he heard about Tony Romo's back injury. Kitna sent a text message Tuesday morning to Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, and the two would talk by phone for 30 minutes, he said.

''I told Jason if he wants me or somebody to come in and call a play and be able to pull a play off if a bad situation happened, I would be willing to do that,'' the 41-year-old Kitna told the newspaper.

He'll suit up Sunday as the backup to Kyle Orton if Romo can't play against the Philadelphia Eagles, in a game that will decide a playoff berth.

Kitna appeared in three games for the Cowboys in 2011 and has started 124 games overall for Seattle, Cincinnati, Detroit and Dallas.

''He's a very active guy,'' Garrett said Wednesday. ''He's a mentally tough guy. . And he's certainly very young at heart. So it was good to have him back, good to have him back in the meetings, and (I'm) excited to see him practice today.''

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