Were you there about 90 minutes pregame when some Pats were in shorts and were going back into that tunnel to the lockerroom after the first warmup and Brady was still out on the other side working with a trainer tethered to a rope practicing his mobility?
Brady saw Edelman at the other end of the field about to disappear into the tunnel and stopped, immediately shouting (yelping like a lost puppy, really) "Jules!!!! Jules!!!!!!.....Edelman!!!!!!!" I was standing around mid field and many of us fans started yelling and motioning to your area to get Edelman's attention - - thankfully he wasn't in a hurry to the lockerroom and was signing autographs on his way out. Someone over there finally saw and pointed Edelamn towards Brady. Julian then ran back out onto the field and they proceeded to have a 10 minute catch.
Was pretty illustrative since there were 3 or 4 other WR's on the field available at the time, but Brady needed his binky. Suffice to say, in that way, Welker has definitely been replaced.