Patriots Reach Agreement With Bledsoe

Drew Bledsoe, the No. 1 pick in the draft by the New England Patriots, has reached an agreement that will reportedly pay the Washington State quarterback $14.5 million over six years. He is expected to sign today.

“I think he’s pretty happy. His major thing is he wanted to get signed before training camp (starting July 15),” Bledsoe’s father said Monday from his home in Yakima, Wash.

Mac Bledsoe said his son was driving across the country with some friends, but planned to leave them and catch a flight to Boston on Monday night.

ESPN reported that the contract was probably worth $14.5 million, including a $4.5-million signing bonus and additional incentives starting in the third year.

The reported deal would be among the biggest ever signed by a rookie. In 1990, Jeff George signed with the Indianapolis Colts for $15 million over six years.

A Patriot spokesman would not comment on the report or on whether a news conference was scheduled. Bledsoe’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, was not immediately available for comment.

Bledsoe’s father added that his son’s negotiations with the Patriots were “very congenial,” but said he was not familiar with the terms of the deal.

Bledsoe passed up his final year of eligibility at Washington State and made himself available for the draft in April. The Patriots chose Bledsoe with the first overall pick.

Pro Basketball

The Clippers and Hornets are working on a trade that would send Kendall Gill to Los Angeles for Danny Manning, according to a source close to the negotiations.

Among the holdups are working out a new contract for Gill or agreeing on an extra person for the Hornets to send to the Clippers to make the salaries balance.

The Clippers nearly got Gill shortly before February’s trade deadline in a deal that did not include Manning, but the Dallas Mavericks unexpectedly backed out of three-team swap.

Last Wednesday, Manning agreed to take a $450,000 pay cut to get a trade to Charlotte, but other aspects of the trade could not be worked out.

Soccer

Croatia will enter its first European Cup soccer tournament as an independent state next season, according to a preliminary decision announced by UEFA, the sport’s European governing body.

FC Croatia Zagreb, one of former Yugoslavia’s top clubs under the name Dinamo Zagreb, was tentatively admitted to the 1993-94 European Champions’ Cup on a trial basis. A special working group of UEFA also recommended readmitting Albania.

Auto Racing

Dale Earnhardt’s victory in Saturday’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway has put him 251 points ahead of his nearest competitor in the NASCAR Winston Cup standings.

The margin is wide enough that Earnhardt could finish last in Sunday’s Slick 50 300 at Loudon, N.H., and still be ensured of no less than a 103-point lead in the standings.

Name in the News

Ian Woosnam, the 1991 Masters champion, was fined $3,320 and banned from driving for one year after a court ruled his blood-alcohol level was more than double the legal limit when he crashed his car June 24. Woosnam, 35, drove through a row of hedges and into a field not far from his home in Wales. His wife suffered minor injuries.