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Julian Edelman and Tom Brady were quite the quarterback and receiver tandem with the New England Patriots. The pair developed a wavelength that most envy, but it didn't start out all that well.
Being a rookie in 2009, Edelman was looking at slowly making his way into the league, but when you have a coach in Bill Belichick and a quarterback as good as Brady, you have to get up to speed quickly. Unfortunately, Edelman wasn't.
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On the "Games with Names" podcast, Edelman recounted what his first interaction with Brady was like on the practice field, and it didn't go well:
“First pass ever from Tom. They put in a package with four receivers, a four-wide group, and they gave me a play. This was, like, I never played receiver, but they created a package for me, and they’re like, 'Alright, Edelman, get in.'
“I run, like, a hook route, and Tom darts it on me. And I tried to run before I had it, because I wanted to do something with it. I dropped the ball. He goes, 'Catch the f**king ball, Julien!' I went home and cried. I felt pretty shitty for four days. It took me so long to earn his trust after that, took me like three years to earn his trust back.”
Edelman had superb career after a rocky start
The receiver put his first taste of what life would be like with Brady behind him and forged an impressive career. The diminutive receiver finished as one of the best playoff receivers ever.
While not the biggest stat-grabbing player others are, he made his name when the lights where at their brightest. He won three Super Bowls and was Super Bowl LIII MVP.
He finished with 6,822 receiving yards and 36 touchdowns in his 12-year career. In 19 playoff games, the receiver totaled 1,442 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 75.9 yards per game. In the 2016 and 2018 playoffs, he averaged over 100 receiving yards per game.
So while that first dropped pass from Brady scarred him, the receiver used it as fuel and became a star in the league.
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