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Drake Maye provides hope, much like the last high draft pick under center in Foxborough

It happened so long ago now that just thinking about it makes this aging man’s sciatica act up. And I don’t even have sciatica as far as I know.

But two irrefutable sources, pro-football-reference.com and the calendar, do confirm that Drew Bledsoe – forever young in the minds of Patriots fans of a certain age, but somehow 52 years old now – made his debut more than 31 seasons ago, on Sept. 5, 1993.

Bledsoe, the No. 1 overall pick in that year’s draft out of Washington State, completed 14 of 30 passes for 148 yards, 2 touchdowns (the first of his career fittingly being a 54-yarder to tight end and first-ballot Hall of Nearly Canton-Worthy inductee Ben Coates) and an interception in the Patriots’ season-opening 38-14 loss to the Bills.