Nobody would have blamed Julian Edelman if he was up for reminiscing on Monday.
In his first meeting with the media since Tom Brady bolted for the Bucs, Edelman was asked about his BFF leaving, and I doubt even Bill Belichick would have given No. 11 grief if he said a lot of very kind words about Brady.
I mean, for the previous 10 years, Edelman basically tried to emulate Brady any way he could. At one point, they even started dressing alike. To be honest, it got a little Buffalo Bill-ish at intervals.
But when Edelman was asked his thoughts on Brady, he answer was straight Patriot Way.
"Obviously, it was a little different scenario, but you've got to move on and understand that this is a business," Edelman said. "You wish him well, and that's when you instantly start thinking about what you have to do to prepare yourself to go out and contribute and help the team for the upcoming year.
"Obviously, we played a lot of ball together and love him to death, but the train keeps moving as it will when I'm not playing here or something. It just always keeps going. We just have to worry about the people we have here and try to prepare ourselves the best we can."
This was precisely the tone that needed to be set by the, gulp, elder statesman of the Patriots' roster. Nobody would have blamed Edelman if he pined a bit for Brady, but it wouldn't have done the Patriots any good.
Time is of the essence. TB12 is playing in a stadium with a pirate ship now, and you know he's going to want to prove his Patriots doubters wrong. New England has no time to waste if it wants to continue rolling down the tracks.
"There's a lot of guys who are passionate for football," Edelman said. "Of course Tom has a passion that's a very big one, but he's moved on and he's somewhere else and we're worried about the passion of the players that are on this team right now. I can tell you right now there's a lot of guys that are very passionate and very hungry and it's going to be an opportunity to go out and play football. ... Every year there's new change on all teams."
Edelman's Belichickian response shouldn't be surprising. The former seventh-round pick as a college QB, has always feared, like buddy Brady, that Belichick could send him packing at any time. He is very cognizant of ticking off Belichick, and even remarked in the call about how he was uncomfortable answering injury questions.
It reminded me of the time I ran into Edelman when he was in the final day of PED suspension a few years back. I practically begged Edelman to give me a few quotes I could use — after his suspension ended in a few hours.
"Come on, Greg," an understanding Edelman said. "You know what Bill would do to me if I said anything."
Edelman did talk about how he was basically just worried about doing his job, but I'm not sure he believes that.
“I think what I can do is worry about myself,” Edelman said. “And the guys that play my position in the receiver room, just try to lead by example and let guys know — correct guys and be a guy that you can ask questions to. Just kind of that whole role. ... That’s kind of our thing around here: Worry about yourself, do your job. We’ve got a lot of coaches that have been doing this a long time. It’s their job to get the guys going. But if someone needs a question to be answered and if I know it, I’m certainly going to help to the best of my ability and worry about the guys in my room. So that’s what I’m going to try to do. That’s what I’ve tried to do in the past and I’ll continue to try to do in the future.”
Not sure if that Do-Your-Job mentality is going to be enough for this football team, especially on the offensive side of the ball that will have a lot of players touching the ball that haven't won a lot of anything.
A lot of guys are going to be looking to Edelman this season, and he's going to have to do and say more than just put his head down and work on his 12-pack abs. Edelman is going to have to lead this team in many ways.
"It's definitely crazy," said Edelman, about being one of the oldest players on the roster. "I can remember like it was yesterday when I was a rookie. Time flies when you're having fun and I've had a lot of fun here and hopefully, this fun continues. ... I'm a wily old vet. You make me feel old."
Not old, just a needed leader.
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