It’s tough to believe Julian Edelman and Tom Brady are set to embark on their 11th season together.
Edelman and Brady have become quite the duo over the past decade-plus with the New England Patriots. After scrapping away over the first few seasons of his NFL career, Edelman eventually became one of Brady’s favorite targets, and the two have more than a few Super Bowl rings to show for their on-field successes.
The Super Bowl LIII MVP dove into his relationship with Brady during an appearance Tuesday on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Like many others who have been inside the Gillette Stadium walls, Edelman was a bit awestruck the first time he met TB12.
“The first time I met him was my rookie year, 2009,” Edelman said. “We just came in after rookie minicamps and when you’re a rookie you’re carrying around — back in that day, 10 years ago — you have a six-inch binder. Now everything is on iPads, but you’d run around with a six-inch binder, get to meetings 10 minutes early. Guys are strolling in, you know, the veterans, 30 seconds before. Like, they know what’s going on, but when you’re a rookie, you don’t know. I’m going into a meeting and right into the doorway Tom, like, runs into me and he goes ‘Hey, I’m Tom.’ I like almost drop my book and I’m like, ‘Hey, uh, nice to meet you, Tom. I’m Jules.’ He goes, ‘Hey, I heard a lot about you. Excited to have you on the team.’ It was definitely a frightening experience for me.”
Even Brady at the time surely couldn’t have imagined the kind of rapport he’d eventually build with the 2009 seventh-round pick.
The pair’s next challenge will be one of their toughest yet: repeating as Super Bowl champions.
