Edelman and former OC Bill O'Brien reminisce about Edelman's start with the Patriots, culminating in Saturday's induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
Former head coach Bill Belichick walked down the halls of Gillette Stadium with three game tapes of a gritty quarterback at Kent State.
The quarterback was fast and could break tackles, racking up 1,370 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in his senior season. He could also throw, and he might be the first one to point to his perfect NFL passer rating, but Belichick knew his NFL future wasn't at quarterback.
"It was late one night before the draft. Coach Belichick came down the hallway, and he had three game tapes. It was Kent State versus Ohio State, Kent State versus Boston College, and then it was versus some other Big 10 school," former Patriots and now Boston College head coach Bill O'Brien said. "[Belichick] said, 'Hey, look, there's this kid at Kent State that plays quarterback, but he's not a quarterback. Could you just watch him and give me an idea of what he might be able to do?"
O'Brien watched the tape and liked what he saw. He told Belichick that he thought the Kent State quarterback could play wide receiver, running back, or possibly even safety in the NFL.
"I watched all three games, and he was breaking tackles. He didn't have the greatest offensive line blocking for him. His playing strength was unbelievable. His relentlessness, his competitiveness on the field was unbelievable. He wasn't a great passer. I know he's got the greatest passer rating of all-time, but he wasn't a great passer. He was a runner and just a tough guy," O'Brien told Patriots.com. "I told Bill that I think the guy could play slot receiver. I thought he could maybe play safety. Maybe he could play running back. I said there's things he could do, and we should probably continue to study this guy."
From there, the Patriots sent coaches and scouts to Kent State to work out their quarterback, including former running backs coach Ivan Fears and special teams coach Scott O'Brien, who went to see if the Golden Flashes prospect could return punts. Then, as O'Brien said, the rest is history.
Fast forward a few months, and with the 232nd overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft the New England Patriots selected Julian Edelman out of Kent State to play, well, somewhere on the field. This weekend, the converted college quarterback selected late on day three of the draft, who didn't have an obvious position in the pros, is being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
"It's awesome. I was fortunate because I was there in the beginning. He was just such a relentless competitor. A guy who really understood how to deal with adversity right from the get-go. You've got to give his parents a lot of credit, obviously. They raised a very mentally tough guy," O'Brien said.
Although his story is one of competitive toughness, it wasn't easy for Edelman early in his career. Along with finding a permanent position, Edelman was drafted onto a loaded roster filled with proven veterans, some of whom had already won Super Bowls. Plus, Patriots QB Tom Brady was returning from a season-ending knee injury in the 2008 season, so tensions were high heading into Edelman's rookie training camp.
While learning several positions during his first summer in the NFL, Edelman finally got his shot to catch passes from Brady in practice. O'Brien recalled that the Patriots had mounting injuries at tight end, so the coaches installed a four-wide receiver package featuring Hall of Famer Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Joey Galloway, and Edelman — not bad.
"Early in camp, they put a four-wide package in for me. It was me, [Wes] Welker, Joey Galloway, and Randy Moss. I never ran so much in my life in practice. I just remember being so damn tired, mentally, physically exhausted, walking on eggshells – it was an intense environment," Edelman said. "Tom came back from his ACL. It was a serious preseason. The coaching staff was like, 'How is he going to look?' Everyone was on high alert, urgency level up.
"There's a lot of things going on for a young football player. You're moving to a new area. You're jumping onto a team with 90 guys that has to get down to 53. You're trying to learn a completely new language that's way more sophisticated than the language that you probably saw at your college. And then you have to do multiple things," Edelman continued.
O'Brien recalled telling Edelman to make the most of his opportunity when the coaches installed the four-receiver package because he was getting a chance to run routes with the starting offense.
"I remember telling him, 'Hey, man, look, this is a great opportunity for you because you're going to be running with the ones with this group. You're going to be the Y [receiver].' It was a slot receiver. Welker was on the other side. The outside guys in that system were F and X. So I think Moss was the F, then Welker was the Z," O'Brien said. "That was his first opportunity to be in the huddle with the first group, you know? It was Galloway, Moss, Welker, and Edelman. That was his first opportunity to really get up there with the ones."
"[Former Patriots wide receivers coach] Chad O'Shea should get a lot of credit for developing him. He worked with him a lot. Nick Caserio worked with him a lot. I worked with him a lot," O'Brien recalled. "Scotty [O'Brien] taught him how to catch punts, and then we were teaching him how to play receiver, and we put him in the backfield. Bill [Belichick] would teach him how to play defensive back. He could do different things. He had an incredible skill set."
Although his reps dwindled as camp progressed, Edelman got a chance to make a first impression in the preseason opener. New England opted to rest starting slot receiver Wes Welker in the first exhibition game, so Edelman was given the chance to play a featured role that Thursday night. During the second quarter, Edelman was back deep to return a punt in his first professional game. On his first-ever return, Edelman returned the punt for a 75-yard touchdown, leading to one of Belichick's most famous lines addressing Welker: "Have you ever heard of Wally Pipp?"
"Getting thrown into the mix when Welker didn't play in that game, I caught a couple balls from Brady. After that game, my confidence grew very, very high, and I felt that I belonged here. I can play this game. After that, I was like, alright, yeah, I can do this," said Edelman.
O'Brien also reminisced about Edelman's coming out party in the preseason. He mentioned that Edelman's explosiveness on the punt return stood out to the coaches, noting that the Patriots Hall of Famer doesn't get enough credit for his open-field speed to run away tacklers.
"I don't think he gets enough credit sometimes for how fast he was. He was a very, very fast player. People will say to me, 'Oh, this guy's a lot like Edelman.' I'll time the guy, and the guy will be a 4.7 [second 40-yard dash]. That man [Edelman] can run," O'Brien said. "That's when we first saw that he could take a punt to the house in the NFL. That was a big deal."
Along with the famous punt return, some might forget that Edelman also caught Brady's first pass in the 2009 preseason. That was a notable moment with the Patriots legend returning from a significant knee injury.
"I caught Tom's first pass back on a swing route. It was like right away," Edelman said.
Following his big breakout game, the Patriots knew they wanted to keep working with Edelman. However, injuries and competition at the slot receiver position led to a limited role. He and O'Brien spoke about the adversity Edelman faced with injuries piling up early on in his career, which is why he didn't become a regular contributor on offense until his fifth season in New England after Welker went to the Broncos in free agency.
"After that, I got hurt. There was a lot of freaking craziness in my career, where when things were turning a corner, something happened: foot, ankle, knee [injury]. That's the crazy thing about football," Edelman said.
O'Brien says that he tells his young players at Boston College about Edelman's perseverance to battle through the early-career misfortune and become one of the Patriots best wide receivers.
"I tell young guys all the time, he was injured a lot early on. He had some injuries early in his career. Dealing with that, too, on top of learning what to do, was just again, goes back to his mental toughness, his ability to deal with adversity," O'Brien said.
Edelman's story is truly one of dedication to one's craft, mental toughness, and taking advantage of opportunities. The three-time Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl LIII MVP will now join his quarterback, Tom Brady, in the Patriots Hall of Fame - two day-three draft picks that were massive underdogs who went on to have historically great careers.
"It's an absolute honor. It's been so surreal. If you asked me my rookie year if I'd be going into the Pats Hall of Fame, it would be wild to think that," Edelman said.
As wild as it might've seemed when Belichick and O'Brien scouted a lesser-known quarterback from Kent State in 2009, Edelman will now don a red jacket.
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