Courtesy SI.com

What is the first thing that comes to mind, when someone mentions recently-retired NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe?

Are you still pondering?

When Bledsoe announced his retirement after 14 seasons of hurling nearly 35 passes per game, I wondered how Bledsoe would be remembered. Drew Bledsoe is, after all, one of the most prolific passers in the history of the National Football League. Believe it, or not, Drew Bledsoe had a Hall of Fame career.

Why so hard to believe? Simple. In spite of earning a Super Bowl championship in 2001, avid NFL football fans don't look at Bledsoe as remarkable quarterback.

Bledsoe was one of the slowest, least mobile, quarterbacks to ever strap on a helmet. He has a rather pedestrian NFL quarterback rating of 77.1, and he was sacked a whopping 467 times. Bledsoe's completion percentage is a solid, if unspectacular, 57 percent.

What Drew Bledsoe has on his 14-year resume is longevity -- he spent nine seasons with the Patriots, efficiency and several eye-popping, NFL Hall of Fame statistics.

Bledsoe is fifth in NFL history in pass attempts, seventh in yards, with over 44,000, and 13th in touchdown passes. Plus, Drew Bledsoe was amazingly durable, playing in at least 13 of 16 reglar-season games in all but two seasons.

None of these tremendous achievements, though, were first to come to my mind, when thinking of Drew Bledsoe's NFL Hall of Fame career. I tried to remember anything bad about Bledsoe. I could not come up with a thing.

Drew Bledsoe was what every NFL quarterback is supposed to be, yet few are. A solid, polite, consistent professional. A winner in every sense of the word. This, and his steady 14 seasons are more than enough to put Drew Bledsoe in the NFL Hall of Fame.