Julian Edelman shares memorable Bill Belichick story after receiving Super Bowl MVP

It's been a long and winding road for Julian Edelman as a Patriot but it likely peaked on Monday morning as the wide receiver received the Super Bowl MVP trophy from Roger Goodell in Atlanta.

Edelman was an easy choice for the award with a team-high 10 catches for 140 yards, which helped carry a Patriots offense that struggled to get much going for a large chunk of the game but managed to overcome it all on the way to a 13-3 victory.

“I’m just so proud of the group of gust that we had this year," Edelman said. "The ups and downs that we all had with the ebbs and flows of the season. When you play a whole year you see how the team shapes up, and see how this team grinded and worked this year. When things weren’t at its best, we just constantly go out and improve, just shows what kind of group of guys it was, the 2018 Patriots. A resilient group and one you’ll never forget.”

While giving his acceptance speech, Edelman also shared one of his favorite Bill Belichick stories from his early days with the team.

“I remember going in and seeing coach," Edelman said. "I don’t know if he remembers this, but I was a rookie and it was about 11 o’clock at night. By the grace of God, we were walking out at the same time. I probably said three words to him at the time before that. I was on the team for like six months. I just looked at him as I saw him on the treadmill, watching film at 10 o’clock at night and I go ‘Coach, you sure like football, huh?’ He goes, ‘Beats being a plumber.'”

Belichick took the podium right after Edelman shared the story and started his speech by issuing a correction with a smile.

“First of all, I think Julian might have misquoted me. I have a ton of respect for plumbers. I can barely turn the water on myself. Those people do a great job. I think I said ‘It beats working,’” he said.

Belichick also credited Dallas Morning News columnist Rick Gosselin for helping the Patriots find Edelman in the 2009 NFL Draft.

“It’s kind of interesting,” Belichick said. “I’ve got to give Rick Gosselin credit on that one for getting us started. I talked to Rick — as you know, Rick followed the draft very closely — and at one point, he said to me, ‘A kid you might want to take a look at is this quarterback out of Kent State. I don’t think he can play quarterback [in the NFL], but I’ve heard he’s a pretty good player.’

“So we kind of got going on him a little bit, and we were like, ‘OK, what would we do with Julian? Is he a receiver? Is he a punt returner? Is he a defensive back? Is he maybe a guy that just can play multiple positions in the kicking game?’ So we went out and worked him out. How many times did we work you out? Two? So we sent one coach up there. And then we were like, ‘Well all right, let’s send someone else up there, because we weren’t really sure what to do with him.

“So, as it turned out, he came to the Patriots and caught passes, which he hadn’t done before, returned kicks, which he hadn’t done before, and played defense, which he hadn’t done before, in addition to covering kicks and all the other things in special teams.”

Belichick and Edelman will return to Foxborough on Monday ahead of the team's victory parade through Boston on Tuesday.