Bledsoe Is Out of Football and in Business for Himself
By GREG BISHOPPublished: March 10, 2008
BEND, Ore. — On the first day of the first football season after his retirement, Drew Bledsoe actually missed two-a-days. In the morning, he climbed into his boat and floated on Whitefish Lake in Montana and allowed for 30 minutes of reflection.
Then he started training camp.
This was not training camp like the ones Bledsoe reported to during his 14-year N.F.L. career. This was Camp Bledsoe, the beginning of his transition. He grabbed a camera and asked his wife to snap a shot of him sitting on a deck, feet in the water, beer clutched between his legs. He sent the picture to dozens of friends still playing in the N.F.L., all sweating through training camp in the sun.
“As you can see from this first picture I am maintaining my strict workout regimen,” he wrote them. “You can see here I am alternating some 12-ounce curls with some toe swirls. I generally do these until the bottle gets too light to offer enough resistance then I start over with a fresh one.”
The messages continued through the first week of camp — Bledsoe riding his motorcycle, sipping wine, playing golf. By the end, Bledsoe knew deep down what he already suspected. His N.F.L. career was over.
“When training camp came and went, and I wasn’t there, that was when the official break happened,” said the 36-year-old Bledsoe, who announced his retirement last April. “I left that phase of my life and moved on to the next one.”
Last week, quarterback Brett Favre joined Bledsoe in the retired quarterbacks club. Next season, Favre will experience what Bledsoe went through this year, a transition from veteran signal caller to real-world rookie.
On a recent two-day tour of his new life in the city of Bend, Ore., Bledsoe conducted a business meeting over wine, coached third graders on the basketball court and closed a business deal on the ski slopes at nearby Mount Bachelor.
Bledsoe began planning his transition six years before his retirement, about the same time his tenure ended with the New England Patriots. They selected him out of Washington State with the first overall pick in the 1993 draft, and Bledsoe’s entire family traveled to New York City, their first trip together on an airplane.
“Like the Waltons go to New York” Bledsoe said.
During his ninth season in New England, against the Jets in late September 2001, Bledsoe took the most vicious of hit of his career. Linebacker Mo Lewis smacked Bledsoe along the sideline as he tried to run for a first down. Four liters of blood flowed into Bledsoe’s chest cavity, until his lungs failed to inflate.
Bledsoe went back into the game, but he could not remember plays he spent years practicing. He needed assistance getting dressed after the game. In Bledsoe’s absence, the Patriots turned to a young and unknown quarterback named Tom Brady. Bledsoe threw a touchdown pass in the American Football Conference Championship game that year, but Brady started in the Super Bowl, and the Patriots’ dynasty began with Bledsoe on the sideline.
“I don’t play the what-if game much,” Bledsoe said. “And of course, I believe had I not gotten hit, we would have done the same thing. As an athlete, you have to believe that.”
After that season, Bledsoe felt a strong urge to walk away. Instead, he went to Buffalo, where he made his fourth Pro Bowl, then to Dallas, where he was benched again. His career ended with more than 44,000 passing yards and 251 touchdown passes.
The Cowboys pulled Bledsoe at halftime of a game against the Giants in late October 2006. He said he decided to retire then, but waited until the season ended to make sure he was not simply making an emotional decision.
Bledsoe says he is still bothered by the perception at the end of his career that he was too slow and his skills were declining. He insists his skills “had not diminished to any measurable degree.”Bledsoe wished he could show up at the scouting combine wearing a disguise, pretending to be from a small school, essentially starting over.
“Perception always bugged me,” said Adam Bledsoe, his younger brother. “In the latter half of his career, he became a whipping boy.” Bledsoe relished standing on the field, the center of attention, 80,000 fans packed in the stands. But after the second benching, after teammates started addressing him by Mister, he decided to fade into the background. He started to decline interview requests and began starting businesses.
He knew the statistics of recently retired players, the marriages that crumbled, the money that disappeared, the friend who refused to watch football for three years after retirement. Gone were the people who made his doctor’s appointments, gave him directions and planned nearly every minute of his day.
His biggest fear: finishing football and having no reason to get out of bed in the morning. As a result, Bledsoe said yes to everything. During his career, a winery deal with three other N.F.L. quarterbacks — Damon Huard, Rick Mirer and Dan Marino — fell through, so Bledsoe started his own vineyard. He planted the grapes three years ago, and the winery will start producing in 2010.
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