Peter King's August 2014 take, and now

I will say though that I talk to people who despise the pats who like JE. That tells you what a special player he must be.

Bruins29 said:

I will say though that I talk to people who despise the pats who like JE. That tells you what a special player he must be.

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I never realized how much of a team leader he was prior to all the inside stuff from the past week.

Oswlek said:

I never realized how much of a team leader he was prior to all the inside stuff from the past week.

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Same here. I feel a bit silly not thinking of it, given that he's an articulate, enthusiastic former QB. But I didn't put those pieces together.

Great job Peter King on figuring out Edelman might be good after his 100+ catch, 1,000 yard season. Peter King brilliant insights:

Chung sucks- wrong
Browner may not start- wrong
Edelman might be good- genius, maybe if you said it in 2011 I'd give some credit.
Patriots are going to the SB- After aquiring Revis everybody thought the same.


I'm struck but how little he could figure out from watching practices. Every insight was basically "this player will be exactly the same as they were last year." I could predict that with 90% accuracy from my couch. He managed to go to training camp and not figure out anyone who would emerge, or anyone who would dip. King's a ****ing hack.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Edelman might be good- genius, maybe if you said it in 2011 I'd give some credit.

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I'm the furthest thing from a football savant, but I was pining for Welker in 2004 (I think my first post on the board back in September 2006 proposes sending a 3rd rounder to Miami for him) and I was saying back in 2011 that Edelman could replace Welker. I was even laughed at on another board for saying I had a strange feeling that the team might consider trading Wes at a high value point since they had a viable replacement.

I guess this means that you can dismiss everything I say, but if we are discussing unheralded white receivers, you do so at your own risk.

Both those are written by Greg Bedard

I was going to point that out. Not everything at MMQB is written by King.

BradyFTW! said:

As sacrilegious as this would've sounded even 2 years ago, I do think that Edelman this year was better than Welker has ever been. Not by much, it's very close, but his versatility just tips the scales for me.

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Edelman makes Welker look like the Peyton Manning of wide receivers.

dhamz said:

Both those are written by Greg Bedard

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In that case, after reevaluating... Peter King is still a hack.

robertweathers said:

WW is a superior receiver than JE. I don't understand the debate here.

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Welker is the superior SLOT WR. He's the best ever at that.

JE is the superior all around receiver. Welker could never juke the paints out of an outside CB the way Edelman did to Simon... TWICE. (Brady missed the first throw)

Edelman and Welker get lumped in together because let's face it, they're both short white guys, but Edelmans game is more closer to Antonio Brown than Welker.

Edelman's intensity and persona make him a better player than Welker alone. Don't get wrong I loved Welker and he definitely had intensity on the field but watching JE11 mic'd up and even when he isn't you can see him on the sidelines and on the field just being a leader in everything he does. He's like a mini Brady out there and I freakin' love it.

Oswlek said:

I'm the furthest thing from a football savant, but I was pining for Welker in 2004 (I think my first post on the board back in September 2006 proposes sending a 3rd rounder to Miami for him) and I was saying back in 2011 that Edelman could replace Welker. I was even laughed at on another board for saying I had a strange feeling that the team might consider trading Wes at a high value point since they had a viable replacement.

I guess this means that you can dismiss everything I say, but if we are discussing unheralded white receivers, you do so at your own risk.

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Let's remember too that at the start of the 2012 season (McD first season back has OC) Welker was pretty much benched for Edelman. I immediately thought of that after watching and hearing JE and McD celebrating the SB. McD might have been Edelman's biggest supporter. And if that's true than McD really has an eye for finding gems at WR!

dhamz said:

Both those are written by Greg Bedard

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My bad on the attribution. I really thought I'd checked the bylines. Whoops!

If you would rather have Wade Boggs in his prime on your team than Pablo Sandoval in his prime, then Wes Welker is your guy. Otherwise, JE is the clear choice. I can see the arguments on both sides, but I'd take JE (or Deion Branch, for that matter) over WW any day of the week.

Welker of 2009/2010 was uncoverable.

I love Jules and he's the absolute heartbeat of the offense, but let's not re-write history.

When I go to TC, aside from the "stars" Julian Edelman always sticks out.. full tilt, full throttle all of the time.. his presence on any of the teams is very noticeable..

His quickness is impressive, do not know if he is better or worse than Welker, but I really like him his football attitude is infectious..

ctpatsfan77 said:

Not to be facetious, but Welker wasn't any part of the reason the 2007 team didn't get it done.

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Yep. Welker had one of the THE great Superbowl performances IMO and would have been named MVP had we not been screwed by fate.

Welker and Edelman get compared because of the sports media rule that players can only be compared to players of the same color. They aren't the same type of player. Someone mentioned Antonio Brown as a comparison. BB has always used Troy Brown as the player Edelman reminds him of.

While I'd lean toward agreeing with Bedard's opinion that Edelman's best is better than Welker's was that is certainly debatable. Bedard saying Edelman is a better athlete and a more versatile WR is stating the obvious.

We should note that saying someone's best is better than someone else's doesn't not equate to saying they are a better player as consistency and longevity factor into those. Bedard's choice of words was surely intentional. Welker's 6 year run in NE included 5 years of fantastic production sandwiched around 1 lesser year where he was feeling the effect of a quick return from a horrific knee injury. Edelman doesn't have that kind of resume at this point.

WW is like Manning the king of regular season stats. When it really mattered, he came up short. IMO both Troy Brown and Edelman are superior

AzorianPats said:

JE is the superior all around receiver. Welker could never juke the paints out of an outside CB the way Edelman did to Simon... TWICE. (Brady missed the first throw)

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Rubbish. WW was one of the best jukers ever. The dude broke ankles every Sunday.

AzorianPats said:

Edelman and Welker get lumped in together because let's face it, they're both short white guys, but Edelmans game is more closer to Antonio Brown than Welker.

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I would agree that WW and JE are different receivers. JE is slightly bigger and without question faster but WW was quicker. With that said in this offense they pretty much run the same routes and from a production standpoint, WW is without peer which is why I stack rank him higher than JE.