Dallas Cowboys: 15 greatest quarterbacks in franchise history

When Bill Parcells joined the Cowboys back in 2003, he was looking for one thing: a quarterback. He went through players such as Quincy Carter, Chad Hutchinson, Vinny Testaverde, Drew Henson and eventually Drew Bledsoe. While Bledsoe ended up being benched in favor of Tony Romo, he gave the “Big Tuna” his first trustworthy player under center in Dallas.

The former No. 1 overall pick out of Washington State, Bledsoe was with Parcells with the New England Patriots from 1993 through 1996. The two had plenty of success together, including two double-digit winning seasons and a run to the Super Bowl in the 1996 NFL season.

Bledsoe later worked under Bill Belichick but lost his job when he was injured and Tom Brady guided them to their first Super Bowl win in 2001. After naming Brady the starter, the veteran was traded to the Buffalo Bills. He was released after three seasons in Western New York and signed with Dallas, where he played his final two NFL campaigns.

Overall, Bledsoe was 12-7 as a starter for America’s Team, as he completed 58.4 percent of his passes for 4,803 yards with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 30-to-25. While it wasn’t the best stretch of his 14-year NFL career, he did give the team some veteran leadership at the quarterback position, which helped keep Bledsoe on the bench while they groomed Romo.

Had they needed to force Romo into the lineup earlier, Parcells said Romo may not have had the career he did. We’ll never know if that’s true or not, but the former championship-winning coach knows enough about the game to be taken at his word here.