Julian Edelman didn’t make it to where he is today without a chip on his shoulder and some important intangibles.
Sure, the New England Patriots slot receiver was blessed with impressive speed and quickness, and it’s also hard to argue the greatest thing to ever happen to his career was Tom Brady. But Edelman’s drive and mental toughness helped him beat the odds as a converted college quarterback drafted in the seventh round.
So NFL teams can try as they may to find the next Edelman and replicate his continuous slot success, but it obviously isn’t that simple. It’s those extra things, a former Patriots staffer told The Athletic, that separates Edelman from the rest of his contemporaries.
“Julian is strong as (expletive),” the former Patriots employee told The Athletic. “Some of these guys are (5-foot-10), 190 (pounds) and are thin-boned. You can push them around. They’re good 7-on-7 guys. He can block, can break a tackle and pound-for-pound is very strong. The guy’s toughness and competitiveness is in the 1 percent of people in the NFL. He is rare. He’s an absolute pit bull. (Wes) Welker and (Danny) Amendola weren’t as physical. He’s a lot stronger. He’s so (expletive) tough. If you ask him to go inside and crack on C.J. Mosley. He’s thinking, I’ll go in there and knock the shit out of him. (Braxton) Berrios will try it and be a bug on a windshield.”
Considering what we’ve learned about Edelman from afar, that all seems to check out.
