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Julian Edelman reveals his first impressions of Tom Brady after being drafted by Patriots

profilephotocropby: Suzanne Halliburton07/20/23suzhalliburton
tom brady julian edelman
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes you have to state the obvious. So you can guess Julian Edelman‘s first reaction when he met Tom Brady.

This was back in 2009, a few weeks after the Patriots selected Edelman, who was then a Kent State quarterback, with the 232nd pick in the seventh round of the NFL Draft. Brady already owned three Super Bowl rings. But in the offseason of 2009, Brady still was rehabbing his surgically repaired knee when he met Edelman, the undersized QB soon-to-be wide receiver. They’d eventually become football bffs.

Edelman appeared on the New Heights podcast, hosted by our favorite Super Bowl brothers, Jason and Travis Kelce. The podcast was full of laughs and salty, NSFW language. And this is how Julian Edelman described his first meeting with Tom Brady and his first reaction to the quarterback.

“Dude’s handsome, f***ing tall and handsome,” Edelman said. “I literally walked in through the locker room, I had my big a**, like, 20-inch binder of plays because we used to have playbooks. I walked in and almost dropped it. I’m like ‘Damn, he’s tall, he’s handsome.’

“Then I remember the first day of practice, I saw this dude throw a ball, I was like ‘yeah, he’s good’, just dropped it right over the corner, a deep one to (Randy) Moss. And when you got to see that connection as a young player, yeah, it was f***ing crazy.”

Edelman eventually adapted. Coach Bill Belichick, who loves special teams, kept him on the final roster after he saw Edelman return a punt 75 yards against the Eagles in a preseason game. He was a starting wideout by week two, catching eight passes for 98 yards. Plus, he returned kicks and punts. By 2011, he was so valuable to the team that he lined up at defensive back when the Patriots trotted out their nickel and dime packages.

And by 2014, Tom Brady and Julian Edelman won a Super Bowl together. Edelman caught nine of Brady’s passes for 109 yards. And he scored the go-ahead touchdown over the Seahawks just before the two-minute warning.

The two won another Super Bowl in February, 2017. And in February 2019, it was Julian Edelman and not Tom Brady who garnered Super Bowl MVP honors in a 13-3 win over the Rams.

The Tom Brady to Julian Edelman connection also led the Patriots to an amazing come-from-behind win over the Falcons in the Super Bowl. On this play, the official ruled that Edelman caught a deflected pass between three Atlanta defenders. (Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)

The quarterback and the receiver still hang out. Edelman played one season without Brady after the quarterback signed with the Bucs. But Edelman retired after the 2020 season. Meanwhile, Brady gave up football this past February.