Could Julian Edelman have succeeded as a QB in the NFL?

Just an idle thought. Looking at Julian's college highlight reel, he looks impressive as a QB. (Granted it's a college highlight reel.) Certainly there's the running, but he looks composed as a passer. Certainly better than a Tebow at least. If some team had taken him as a QB and he spent a few seasons as a backup learning a position, could he have become at least an average QB? Given that no one selected him as a QB, the NFL conventional wisdom was obviously "no".

Julian Edelman College Highlights:

Simple answer, No. Lots of guys look good in college, especially when you play in a conference like the MAC and teams dont really the patience or roster spots to develop guys anymore

Hard to imagine Edelman making it as an NFL QB when there are top recruits from major programs who go on to compete, or even win, the Heisman trophy, yet fail as an NFL QB.

Kent State was supposedly the only Division 1 program willing to give him an opportunity, and even Belichick stated that they weren't likely to use him at QB when they drafted him.

It's great to see that Belichick envisioned his potential, which was proven in his first NFL preseason when Edelman took a punt to the house. We also saw him do well in the postseason loss to BAL that rookie year.

You beat me to it, @meatface. Sorry for repeating your thoughts. I was about a minute late

He's the third best QB in the division.

As well as Eric Crouch. C'mon man!!

supafly said:

You beat me to it, @meatface. Sorry for repeating your thoughts. I was about a minute late

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you put it much better than I did

If some team tried him at QB it would mean they were desperately searching for a QB, i.e. bad.
While he is titian on the bench "learning" from the succession of busts and retreads the coach and staff get fired and the new guy wonders why they have this short running QB on the roster/practice squad.

If by some miracle he gets in, hr'll be the QB of a bad team. Probably their best play will be him in shotgun and pretend it is a punt return.

Those highlight videos aren't particularly encouraging about his future as a pro QB. I didn't watch them all the way through, but it seems almost none of the throws were "difficult" ones in terms of timing, decision-making, touch and so on.

I won't say it's impossible, but he'd need to sit 4 years and learn from a top coach who is willing to tailor their whole offense around him.

Well, clearly nobody on the Forum has been read in to the super secret plan for Brady's replacement...

Edelman has the drive and attitude to succeed at really anything he wants to do. I certainly wouldn't count him out, but that said I just don't think run-based quarterbacks can survive in this league long term. Defenses are just too big, and too fast, these guys get killed out there. So not only would he have to develop his passing skills, but he'd have to do it quickly before his career is derailed like RG3.

Probably not, most coaches would discount him because of his height alone. He's only an inch shorter than Russell Wilson but the height bias is very strong.

And give up his pro bowl career at WR?

If Tim Tebow had just agreed to play TE, he would have been a star instead of perennially unemployed. Why fight it?

Plenty of people thought he wouldn't make it as a receiver either. Given that he went on to play a pivotal role on a championship team, and looks primed to do it again, I would say "Why not?"

Considering his discipline and sheer will power, ability to play a half dozen positions including DB, I would be optimistic that in time he could be better than some of the dregs starting for some of the worst teams.

Is that "successful"? Not sure. Are Brian Hoyer's or Blain Gabbert having successful QB careers?

It would be fun if BB let him play a series in the preseason. I was excited when he let Troy Brown do it, although I think it only lasted for a play.

the year he came out? Nope, nobody would have given him a chance, if he had came out the year after russell wilson won the title? Yes, teams would have at least been open to the notion of a shorter, extremely mobile QB, which is what Jules was.

rookBoston said:

And give up his pro bowl career at WR?

If Tim Tebow had just agreed to play TE, he would have been a star instead of perennially unemployed. Why fight it?

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I think he makes the same money now so why take the hits - ( And im NOT a Tebow supporter )

I really, really doubt it. He was an undersized run-first QB playing in the MAC, and even in that setting there completed less than 55% of his passes and threw more picks than TDs. If he had gone on to beome a successful pro QB, it would have been one of the most out-of-nowhere success stories in modern NFL history.

Luckily for Edelman (well, as lucky as you can be when your own hard work and self-confidence is a huge factor as well), Belichick saw where his real potential was in his game tape and combine measurables. If he was 5 years younger, I think he might have been picked sooner, since teams are finally figuring out that agility is at least as important as straight line speed. But when he came out in 2009, everyone still had a weird obsession with 40 times and height/weight, which led to dumb teams consistently being wrong at the top of the draft while smart teams could pick up Edelman or Antonio Brown in the 7th round, because their awesome 3 cones and short shuttles were overshadowed by below average size and unimpressive 40 times.

Edleman could be a 2 gap NT if he wanted to