Drew Bledsoe, not Brett Favre, was the first choice for 'There's Something About Mary.' (Google)

From the "you learn something new every day" department: the first choice for Cameron Diaz' football-playing boyfriend in There's Something About Mary was Drew Bledsoe, not Brett Favre. (Fahv-ruh.)

The Farrelly Brothers, who are big Patriots fans, appeared on the Rich Eisen Show Tuesday and told Eisen that Bledsoe, then with the Patriots, was the top choice for the end-of-movie cameo in the 1998 hit.

"Our first choice was Drew Bledsoe. He was the stud at the time for the Patriots … but he had just gotten into a little," Bobby Farrelly said.

"They had the mosh incident," Peter Farrelly interjected. "He was a single guy, went out with his pals, they went to a club, he dove into a mosh pit and someone kind of tweaked their neck, nothing serious, but it was in the news. So he called us up and said 'I can’t come do your movie in Miami because if they find out I did a movie after that they’re going to run me out of town.'"

"Then we went to Steve Young. And Steve Young called one day and said 'That’s the funniest script I’ve ever read. But I cannot do it, because if I do it, it’s R-rated, and I know all the Mormon kids will be sneaking in and I wouldn’t feel good about that,'" the brothers recalled.

"Stand up guy … then we went to Favre. When Brett was coming, we got phone calls from his manager and said 'don’t hit him up for autographs.' So we told the whole crew, just leave them.

Kudos to Eisen and his producers -- they had Bledsoe ("Drew from Washington") call up and talk to the guys; he called not doing the movie "one of my great regrets in life."

"It’s one of my great regrets in life that I didn’t take that part," Bledsoe said. "I know the movie would’ve had a successful run had I been in it. Had I taken that part instead of Brett, we’re talking Academy Awards and all those things."

And double kudos to the show, which featured Favre live from Mississippi on camera talking to the Farrellys.

"Well first of all it was a long time ago, so my memory recall is not very good. I just remember it being a lot of fun. It was something very different from what I'd been used to," Favre said. "If I ever felt like a rookie, this was the time. The guys were patient, very nice, enjoyed the crew. My wife and I went down, went out to dinner with the whole crew. It was just a lot of fun, very different from what I'd been used to.

"I was honored to be a part of it. It was funny."

But Favre wasn't aware he was the third choice.

"No," said a smiling Favre. "If I'd known that I would have never done it."