Bledsoe Becomes NFL’s Best Paid : Pro football: New England Patriot quarterback signs seven-year, $42-million contract, eclipsing Troy Aikman.

New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe couldn’t grasp the numbers on the contract that made him, according to the man paying his salary, the highest paid player in the NFL.

“What do I think?” Bledsoe said about the $42 million, seven-year deal he signed Thursday in Smithfield, R.I. “I don’t know. I can’t even do the math.”

Bledsoe, 23, who has been out of college only two years, earned the big numbers by putting up unprecedented statistics last season as the quarterback and cornerstone of the New England Patriots. He set NFL records with 691 passes in a season and 45 completions and 70 passes in a game.

Bledsoe’s contract runs through 2001 and rivals that of Troy Aikman’s deal with Dallas.

Aikman’s eight-year contract averages $6.25 million per year, but some of that money won’t be paid until after the eight years. Bledsoe’s $6 million per year will be paid during the seven years. The deal includes an $11.5 million signing bonus and a $1.7 million salary this year.

Patriot owner Bob Kraft called Bledsoe’s deal “the highest average salary and the highest signing bonus” in NFL history.

The new contract begins this season. voiding his original six-year, $14.4 million deal which would have let him become a restricted free agent after this season.

Bledsoe shrugs off the burdens of his high salary.

“The pressure that I feel is the same as the pressure that I felt when I was playing football in high school” said Bledsoe, who as a high school sophomore replaced a senior at quarterback.

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Tony Boselli, the standout USC offensive lineman selected No. 2 in the NFL draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, has a more serious knee injury than originally thought and will have surgery Friday.

Boselli, a 6-foot-7, 323-pounder expected to start at left tackle for the expansion team, was flown back to Jacksonville from Steven’s Point, Wis., aboard owner Wayne Weaver’s private jet for a follow-up examination.

Dr. Stephen Lucie, the team’s physician, found a small floating cartilage chip and scheduled arthroscopic surgery. Boselli had been expected to be out between 10 days and two weeks but it will now be longer.

Coach Tom Coughlin said he would not speculate on how long Boselli will be sidelined until after surgery.

Boselli was injured Monday during a one-on-one drill against defensive lineman Jeff Lageman. At the time, team officials said, an MRI found no serious damage, and the injury was described as a sprained knee.

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Six-time Pro Bowl kicker Morten Andersen, cut by the New Orleans Saints a day earlier, agreed to contract terms with the Atlanta Falcons.

Andersen is expected to sign a three-year $2.4 million deal today that includes a $750,000 signing bonus. The Falcons will waive kicker Norm Johnson.

The Saints had cut Andersen for salary-cap reasons and had hoped to re-sign him at a lesser salary.

Andersen leads with NFL with 22 field goals of 50 or more yards. He is No. 6 in league history with an accuracy rate of 77.6% and No. 7 with 302 field goals. He has scored in 174 consecutive games, 12 shy of the NFL record set by Cincinnati’s Jim Breech.

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The Arizona Cardinals won’t be picking up frequently injured defensive tackle Steve Emtman after he called off a visit and workout to team headquarters. Emtman, released by the Indianapolis Colts after refusing to take a pay cut, had no comment. . . . The Cincinnati Bengals are assuming that offensive lineman Dave Cadigan, 30, has retired, Coach Dave Shula said. Cadigan, the starting left guard who Shula said advised him of his plans to retire earlier this month, did not show up Thursday on the mandatory reporting date for veterans.