Young receivers on the New England Patriots don’t have to go far for some sage advice.
Julian Edelman appears quick to lend guidance to whichever player seeks it. He’s obviously a good guy to listen to, not only because he can hack it in the NFL despite the odds being stacked against him when he first broke into the league, but also because of the vast success he has enjoyed.
The Patriots have plenty of young wideouts on the roster now, with first-round pick N’Keal Harry chief among them. During an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Friday, Edelman was asked what type of advice he typically gives a youngster like Harry and Jakobi Meyers.
Here’s the full transcription of his answer, via WEEI.com.
“The advice I give to young players is to know your material inside and out,” he said. “If you know your material going into a game, the installation of the offense, what their defense is doing and the tendencies that they do — when you have all that stuff and you’re not thinking about that, that’s when you can start using your athletic ability. That is when you can start becoming creative in running a route or setting up something in your game.
“It’s tough to manage those things and as a younger player you don’t realize that a lot of plays are tied to each other. Those are the types of things that you have to learn and you have to learn fast when you’re a younger player. That is kind of what I try and help out with, ‘Hey, we have to know all these things. We have to do these things. We have to walk through them.’ The better you know the material as an athlete, that is when you can go out and play. You’re not thinking about how many steps is this? What if this happens on that? When you instinctively and subconsciously know this stuff, that is usually when you play your best football.”
With Mohamed Sanu potentially out in Week 12 (and maybe beyond), Harry might see an increase in his role. Sounds like we know who he’ll go to if he needs some guidance.
