Obviously the success of receivers in the NFL depends on their speed, quickness, and overall talent in order to make it and establish themselves. But the better ones tend to flourish with the right guy throwing them the football, and Julian Edelman certainly knows who has helped get him to where he is now.
In an article in Forbes this week, Edelman gave a lot of the credit for his success to his quarterback, Tom Brady, who he explained took a while to gain his trust. Fortunately, now that he has, Edelman has emerged as one of the top targets in the game and a key component in New England’s offense.
“To comprehend the reason that I am where I am in the NFL right now is in large part thanks to Tom Brady,” Edelman told Forbes this week. “The trail and grind that we have put in together during off-season is very important. The entire time throughout my second year on the league and even after my first year (my rookie year), I heard that Tom requested to have receivers come out to LA (where he had resided at that time), and he would throw to them. I went to LA and we worked on timing and body mechanics which we refer to as “getting on the same page”—meaning being in the zone on the field together. For this reason, I moved out to Los Angeles.”
“At that time, I was a young whippersnapper. I did not know too much. Moreover, I did not know anyone. I went to LA just in case he needed someone to throw the football to…. The first year he called me twice. In fact, I was out there for 4 months and he called me twice. Naturally, I dropped everything at once and went to throw with him”
“The following year, I returned to LA and he called me a few more times. Soon thereafter we were throwing three days a week. Sure enough, we started to develop a concrete friendship and solid trust in one another. Ultimately, what we look forward to is that our relationship is both on the field and off the field. The teammates spend 14 hours together on many occasions. The team has a strong camaraderie and bond together. By developing my friendship with Tom has resulted in support and developing a huge part of my professional athletic career.”
Edelman admitted that when he first got to the Patriots, his biggest challenge was just making the team, especially given his transition from being a quarterback in college to trying to learn to become an NFL receiver.
“My greatest challenge was individually trying to make the team,” said Edelman. “As a rookie, I had changed positions. In college, I was a quarterback and I had never played other positions. By the time I was 22 years old, I was going to a place that I was not very familiar with at all. – It was like learning a foreign language because the complexity is so much higher than what I was used to in college. In addition, I had very little time to learn the position quickly. If you don’t pick it up swiftly they will just replace you. I would say the greatest challenge for me had been my rookie year and learning my spot. It is an emotional battle as you have good days and bad days. Being young and thrown into this big business is challenging.”
You can read more from the interview via this link – CLICK HERE
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
