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Drew Bledsoe is an unfortunate quarterback. The former New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, and Dallas Cowboys QB was a great player, but unfortunately, everyone will always remember him as "the guy who got hurt."
Drew Bledsoe in college
Bledsoe played for three years for Washington State University. He got the starting job in 1990 as a true freshman and had a record-setting career in college.
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He left WSU with a grand total of 34 starts, 9,373 yards, 532 completions and 66 touchdowns.
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Bledsoe decided to forgo his senior season and entered the 1993 NFL Draft.
Drew Bledsoe in New England
Selected in the first round with the first pick, Bledsoe had a herculean job: changing the Patriots.
Following a 2-14 season, the Patriots needed someone to drastically improve the team, and they believed Bledsoe could be the right person for the job. They were right.
As a rookie, Bledsoe guided the Patriots to a 5-11 season. As a sophomore, he led the team to a 10-6 season and a playoff spot—they lost the wild-card game 13-20 to the Cleveland Browns.
In 1996, Bledsoe captained the Patriots to Super Bowl XXXI. The team lost the game 35-21 to the Green Bay Packers.
Even without ever reaching the Super Bowl again, as a starter, the NFL saw Bledsoe as one of its best QBs.
2001
The NFL, and especially the Patriots, believed so much in Bledsoe's talent and ability to win that before the 2001 NFL season, the team signed a then-record ten-year, $103 million contract.
However, things did not go as expected.
In Week 2 against the divisional rival New York Jets, linebacker Mo Williams struck Bledsoe so hard that the QB suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest, which almost resulted in his death. He left the game.
Bledsoe's backup was a sophomore selected in the sixth round with the 199th pick. His name? Tom Brady.
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Life after the Patriots
After debuting, Brady only left the starting role with the Patriots last year when he signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This does not mean that Bledsoe would never again play for the New England franchise.
In 2001, in the AFC Championship Game, he replaced a hobbled Brady and led the team to the win that put the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIV.
Before the 2002 season, the Patriots traded Bledsoe to the Buffalo Bills. He played for the Bills until 2004.
In 2005, Bledsoe went to the Dallas Cowboys. He stayed in Texas for two seasons.
On April 11th, 2007, Bledsoe announced his retirement.
Where is Drew Bledsoe?
Twenty years after the season that forever changed his life and the NFL, Bledsoe is an entrepreneur (founded the Doubleback Winery soon after retirement), a philanthropist, and a coach (offensive coordinator/quarterback coach at Summit High School in Bend since 2012).
In 2011, fans voted him into the Patriots Hall of Fame. In 2012, Bledsoe was named the 30th-greatest quarterback of the NFL's post-merger era.
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