Patriots Sign 43-Year-Old Testaverde

FOXBOROUGH, Mass (AP) Vinny Testaverde, who came out of retirement last season to help out the New York Jets, was signed on Tuesday by New England. <br/><br/>The 43-year-old quarterback, the first overall

Tuesday, November 14th 2006, 5:11 pm

By: News On 6

FOXBOROUGH, Mass (AP) Vinny Testaverde, who came out of retirement last season to help out the New York Jets, was signed on Tuesday by New England.

The 43-year-old quarterback, the first overall pick by Tampa Bay in the 1987 draft, has played 19 NFL seasons and has 269 touchdown passes, 8th in NFL history, and is 6th with 45,252 yards passing.

He becomes the third quarterback on the Patriots roster, behind Tom Brady and second-year man Matt Cassel.

The Patriots will be his sixth team.

In addition to the Bucs, he has played for Cleveland, Baltimore, the Jets and Dallas. He retired after playing with the Cowboys in 2004, but last season rejoined the Jets, for whom he played from 1998-2003, after starter Chad Pennington and backup Jay Fiedler were injured in the same game.

Testaverde, who started four games for the Jets last season, became the first player in NFL history to throw at least one touchdown pass in 19 straight seasons. He completed 60 of 106 passes for 777 yards with 1 touchdown and 6 interceptions. He was subsequently replaced by Brooks Bollinger, who had started the season as the team's third stringer.