Drew Bledsoe's services still needed?

[Yer a Fuckin Jerkoff]

Instead of being a backup in Dallas, is there another team out there willing to trade for him to instantly give their offense a boost? I'm talking Minnesota, Cleveland, Detroit, or any other team hungry for someone even like Bledsoe to step in, get some good protection and unleash the ball and move it downfield. Or, is he better suited to ride the pine in Dallas and wait for Romo to fuck up and old school Wade to give Drew another shot.

[Qbert]

Browns O-Line SUCKS...so, no.

Minny has Brad Johnson already and Detroit has Kitna.

Bledsoe will become the next Testeverde someplace else.

[Shoalzie]

Unfortunately, the Lions are sold on Kitna for next season...maybe they draft a QB to groom for the future. I don't see them going after another veteran QB. They still have Josh McCown as their backup as well.

[orcinus]

While Bledsoe is probably not the long-term answer for any team, he'll make an ideal backup for just about any team without a future QB in place.

Teams won't be able to prepare for him on short-notice, and his experience can make a huge difference over a one- to three-game stretch.

That's why Testaverde enjoyed such a long career. He could come in and win a game or two with his poise and experience before defensive coordinators were able to catch up to the change and install packages tailored to his skills.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

The talking heads in the Boston media say that Drew's enormous ego will prevent him from ever signing a contract to be a back-up QB. I believe them...

They're still talking about how much of a tool he was... 5 years after he left.

[orcinus]

Enormous ego or not, you'd have to think when reality finally slaps him hard in the face, he'd opt to sign a backup deal and continue collecting paychecks. Much like Warner's case, there's always going to be a team either without a legitimate quarterback prospect or grooming a hopeful star of the future. The one-year deal with a chance to compete for a starting job could prolong his career another three years or so if he's smart.

Then again, there's the rub.

[Tom In VA]

Is he an overpaid overly egotistical player on the tail end of his career ?

Tell him to call me.

Sincerely
Vinny Cerrato

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Much like Warner's case.

Slight difference...

Bledsoe never learned the humility associated with stocking shelves or playing for a couple hundred bucks/week as an Arena League player.

I am telling you... dude's only known about being a superstar, from high school to college to the pros. He was a prodigy, and unfortunately, revelled in his superstar status. I'd be very surprised he'd ever accept anything less.

And he's got the bank to walk away. Bledsoe has probably earned well over 150 million in salary and endorsements over the years.

[orcinus]

Anyone in or near Bledsoe's situation should have more than enough bank to walk away. Doing it is another matter.

While you have a great point about Warner's humility, if Bledsoe honestly thinks he's still a capable starter that can lead a team to the playoffs, and the proverbial half-dozen or so teams with issues continue dangling a starting job under his nose, can he walk away knowing was never able to get it done?

That's the billion-dollar question.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

He's got the big arm and the statuesqe immobility that Alvis covets.

I think the Duhs could easily reach the 100 sack milestone with Bledsoe underneath center. Assuming, of course, he stays healthy enough. That's a major Catch-22 for the Oakland. Maybe NASA can come up with some sort of space-suit-uni that could keep him upright for the whole season. One hundred sacks would be sweet! They can add that to the Trophy Case.

[The Assassin]

He'd be a perfect fit with the Duhs. He's got the big arm and the statuesqe immobility that Alvis covets.
The O line will be fine. A free agent here and there and the Vuhtical game is back in town.

16-0 all the way...

Sadly I could see Grandpa Al making a move to get him.

[poptart]

He'd be a perfect fit with the Duhs. He's got the big arm and the statuesqe immobility that Alvis covets.

Rich Gannon was very mobile.

Neat how folks just toss out m0ronic Al takes thinking nobody will call them on their blatant ignorance.

[Sirfindafold]

He'd be a perfect fit with the Duhs. He's got the big arm and the statuesqe immobility that Alvis covets.

Rich Gannon was very mobile.

And Alvis couldn't dismantle the entire system built around him fast enough.

I guess Gannon's broken neck had nothing to do with it.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

I am telling you... dude's only known about being a superstar, from high school to college to the pros. He was a prodigy, and unfortunately, revelled in his superstar status. I'd be very surprised he'd ever accept anything less.

RACK this take^^^^

Bledsoe Retires.

Rather than spend a 15th season standing on a sideline as a backup, quarterback Drew Bledsoe has decided to walk away from pro football.

Drew Bledsoe
Quarterback
Dallas Cowboys

Profile
2006 SEASON STATISTICS
Att Comp Yds TD Int Rat
169 90 1057 7 8 69.2


Bledsoe, 35, retires fifth in NFL history in pass attempts (6,717) and completions (3,839), seventh in passing yards (44,611), and 13th in touchdown passes (251).

The No. 1 overall selection in 1993 by the New England Patriots out of Washington State, Bledsoe spent his first nine seasons with the Patriots, the next three with the Buffalo Bills, and his last two with the Dallas Cowboys.

"I feel so fortunate, so honored, to have played this game that I love for so long, with so many great players, and in front of so many wonderful fans," Bledsoe said in a statement released through his representatives at Athletes First. "I fulfilled a childhood dream the first time I stepped on an NFL field, and the league did not let me down one time. I retire with a smile on my face, in good health, and ready to spend autumns at my kids' games instead of my own. I'm excited to start the next chapter of my life."

A four-time Pro Bowler, Bledsoe backed up Tony Romo for the Cowboys' final 11½ games last season and had no interest in continuing his career in that role. Cincinnati and Seattle are said to have had interest in Bledsoe as a backup to Carson Palmer and Matt Hasselbeck, respectively.

"This is something I've been thinking about for quite a while," Bledsoe said last night from his home in Bend, Oregon. "I felt like this was the way I was going to go late in the season. I wanted to spend some time with it and not make a rash decision."

Being benched at halftime of Dallas' sixth game -- the third time Bledsoe lost his starting job though the first time he'd been outright replaced during the season -- did not rob Bledsoe of his confidence. He says he isn't leaving the game because he feels he's finished. As a matter of fact he says he feels as good as he did a decade ago.

Elias Says
Drew Bledsoe averaged 34.6 passes per game in his career, the highest average for any player in NFL history. Next-highest (minimum: 100 games): Dan Marino (34.5), Brett Favre (34.1).
• Read more Elias Says.


"The reason for the decision is not because I don't want to play anymore," he said. "The reason is there's a lot of other stuff I'm excited about doing. The positives of retiring outweighed the positives of returning and my desire to still play."

Bledsoe, who led New England to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXI and earned his lone championship ring with the Patriots in 2001, listed among his proudest accomplishments the respectable manner in which he carried himself on and off the field and the fact that he never literally had to be carried off the playing field.

"Looking back, I wish some things had gone differently," Bledsoe said, "but throughout 14 years in a very high-profile position in some high-profile places that I represented myself and my family well in terms of how I conducted myself on the field and off."

Though he took plenty of hits and sacks, Bledsoe, a prototypical pocket passer, almost always got up. He started all 16 games nine times.

"Nobody ever had to come and get me off the field," he said. "Even in New England [in '01 after Mo Lewis of the Jets leveled him with a hit that sheered a blood vessel] I went back out there and they had to tell me to stay out. I never once stayed down."

Bledsoe was unable to regain his starting job from Tom Brady -- he did, however, get a relief win in the AFC title game -- and the following offseason the Patriots dealt him to Buffalo. Three years later his run with the Bills ended when the team decided to hand the starting job over to first-round pick J.P. Losman.

His signing with the Cowboys prior to 2005 reunited him with Bill Parcells, the coach who drafted him in New England. With Dallas headed toward a disappointing 3-3 start, Parcells benched Bledsoe in favor of Tony Romo at halftime of a nationally-televised game against the Giants. The Cowboys released Bledsoe in March.

Bledsoe, however, says he harbors no ill will toward Parcells, Belichick, the Bills, anyone.

"I'm not leaving the game with any hard feelings," he said. "I had a great career and I enjoyed all of it, with the exception of losing. I enjoyed the time I had with all the teams I played for. I played with a ton of great players and a ton of great people.

"[Last season] was hard. Very hard. Nobody said life was fair but that was a tough pill to swallow. I'm happy for Tony who's a good guy and a good player. It was sad for him the way the season ended. It's just that I felt like that team had a chance to do some things and I wanted to be on the field with those guys. It didn't work out. But there's no bitterness toward anyone over anything that happened."

A Bledsoe comeback later in '07 or in '08? Not happening, he says. Money certainly is not a source of motivation -- from 1993 through 2003 Bledsoe received more than $62 million in compensation, most in the league. Bledsoe is leaving the game not because the right opportunity isn't available but to take the opportunity to spend more time with his wife, Maura, and their four children while pursuing business endeavors and continuing his charitable work through his foundation, Parenting with Dignity.

"That's why I waited this long to make an announcement," he said. "I wanted to be very sure. I needed to get some emotional separation from last season to make sure I wasn't making a decision I would regret. I wanted to make sure it was the right thing and it is. I would say this is a definite."

[orcinus]

Good call, Ucant.

At the same time, when that high-profile injury occurs in preseason (or early on), I'm guessing the inevitable phone call to the Bledsoe residence does not go unanswered.

The same reasons you gave to support your retirement argument will come into play to woo Bledsoe back to the game.

[Q, West Coast Style]

I am telling you... dude's only known about being a superstar, from high school to college to the pros. He was a prodigy, and unfortunately, revelled in his superstar status. I'd be very surprised he'd ever accept anything less.

RACK this take^^^^

Yes, very astute. It's a testiment to Drew's class and composure he kept it together on the outside once he started getting bumped in favor of younger guys. 'Cause on the inside it had to have been just killing him. Bledsoe probably would have been a Hall of Famer had he come into the league a decade earlier, but he came in just as the old "prototype" was starting to be replaced by more mobile and versitile guys who can deal with the ever-increasing speed and complexity of NFL defenses.

[indyfrisco]

"Looking back, I wish some things had gone differently," Bledsoe said, "but throughout 14 years in a very high-profile position in some high-profile places that I represented myself and my family well in terms of how I conducted myself on the field and off."

What? You want a cookie! That's what you 'sposed to do muthafucka!

- Chris Rock