Let’s get this straight: New England’s Julian Edelman is basically the single-most clutch receiver in the history of the National Football League. Considering that this man was a seventh-round, 232nd overall drafted quarterback, his ability to make plays in the biggest games consistently, time and time again is mind-boggling. Edelman has made an entire career off of proving others wrong, which is one of his most special and outstanding attributes as an athlete and as a human being.
The unbelievably handsome slot receiver did it again in Super Bowl 53, catching 10 of 12 passes for 141 yards and taking home the MVP trophy in New England’s 131-3 win (that score is forever going to make me LOL). It feels as if every single postseason game he plays in, he becomes the x-factor almost immediately and eventually pushes the outcome in the Patriots’ favor. The stats back this up. In his three Super Bowl victories alone, he’s caught 24 passes for 337 yards and four touchdowns. His performance in Super Bowl 53 marked the second time in these playoffs alone that he topped 100 receiving yards in a game, and for the sixth time in his career. Four of those performances have come in his past two playoffs.
His total playoff numbers are masterful, as well, and as expected. In 18 career playoff games, an entire regular season and then some of postseason play, he has totaled 115 receptions for 1,412 yards, all of which he trails only Jerry Rice for the top spot, for five touchdowns. In every single postseason in which he has been healthy and effective for, he has played nearly the most important role (behind Brady, duh) in helping lead his team to and winning the Super Bowl. Without Edelman, the Patriots’ dynasty would not have continued into this past decade and in no way would this team have won three of the last five Super Bowls.
Now, since we’re discussing his Hall of Fame candidacy, it’s crucial that his rather lackluster regular season stats be mentioned. In about four and a half healthy and effective seasons in the NFL, the 32-year-old Edelman has played in 71 games, catching 499 passes for 5,390 yards and only 30 touchdowns. He has never been an All-Pro, or let alone made the Pro Bowl. These stats are, obviously, what does not make him a solidified Hall of Famer right now at this very second. Keep in mind, these numbers come from a player who plays in a system in which its offense’s focal point is to distribute the ball evenly – throwing to whoever gets open first. In the regular season, the wealth is shared fairly and Edelman realizes and accepts that. Never once has this player complained about not getting targeted 15 times a game, and instead accepts his role.
However, in the postseason, Edelman completely manhandles this system. There is no such thing as equal distribution of the ball in the playoffs when Julian Edelman is on the field. He manages to get open every. single. play. So, Brady throws to him. That’s when he starts racking up 100+ receiving yards and messes around and wins Super Bowl MVP. That’s what separates him from everyone else: his relentlessness. In this past Super Bowl, Edelman was far and away the best player on the field, a game in which the field showcased some of the game’s best and most superior talent. He knew he was going to be double-teamed (well, was supposed to be…) and manipulated the Los Angeles Rams’ secondary. On more than one occasion, all Aqib Talib, Marcus Peter and Nickell-Robey Coleman were absolutely smoked by Edelman, and it was beautiful. Falling behind in coverage on Edelman or simply leaving him completely open in a playoff game is the dumbest thing you can do as a defender. I thought this was made clear years ago!
Allow me to reiterate: no, Edelman is not currently a Hall of Famer. IF he stays on this track and on this trajectory for the next few years playing alongside Brady and is healthy and as effective, then he will absolutely don a beige jacket in the future. For right now, he’s simply in the conversation, which is a fantastic start that most players don’t even achieve. One player, in particular, that may very well help Edelman’s case both now and down the road in the future is Pittsburgh Steelers WR Lynn Swann. Swann played from 1974-82 and was most notably the MVP in Super Bowl 10. He retired at age 30 after making a name for himself as a clutch, reliable pass catcher in the playoffs. His playoff numbers look like this: 48 receptions, 907 yards and nine touchdowns in 16 games. His regular season numbers look like this: 336 receptions, 5,462 yards and 51 touchdowns in 96 games. Lynn Swann was inducted into the Hall of Fame about 20 years after his retirement.
These numbers, as you may notice, look pretty, pretty similar to Edelman’s. Notably, Edelman has encompassed 1,000 yards in two seasons so far in his career compared to Swann’s zero. As you could guess, Swann got into the Hall via his clutch postseason accomplishments. Of course, Swann played in a much, much less passing- and catching-oriented era of NFL football. At the same time, this should not take away from Edelman’s candidacy. Swann only got inducted because of his playoff numbers/accomplishments. This sets the foundation for Edelman’s case, especially given that his playoff numbers and accomplishments are greatly superior to that of Swann’s. Although, any individual player’s Hall of Fame candidacy should not be looked at through a strict playoff lens, nor strictly a regular season lens.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is unique compared to the other three major sports in the sense that it goes way beyond success and numbers. It tells a story about football. It looks at individual player’s intangibles, and if any pro football player has ever possessed story-worthy intangibles, it’s Julian Edelman, whether that be on or off the football field. Canton, Ohio has forever and I’m confident always will celebrate the broad word of “greatness”. Greatness not defined as statistics, but true greatness. A great athlete, a great human being, a great teammate. Julian Edelman IS a great athlete, a great human being as well as a great teammate. He’s been defying odds since he came out of the womb. He had to learn how to play wide receiver, specifically slot receiver, once he was drafted by the Patriots in 2009 as a quarterback. By 2013, he had emerged as a legitimate weapon and by 2014 replaced Wes Welker and became a primary target of Brady’s. Now, he’s being discussed as a future Hall of Famer and just won Super Bowl MVP.
If he continues to play at a relatively high level in his remaining years as a pro football player, I absolutely expect him to one day become a football immortal. It’s expected that he’ll rack up more playoff games and thus playoff numbers, something that would greatly help his case and possibly solidify it. There’s a reason why people like Adam Schefter, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, Boomer Esiason and Jerry Rice to name a few are supporting his case a possible future Hall of Famer. To my pleasure, all of these football intellectuals have half a brain and are dismissing those who dismiss Edelman’s candidacy solely because he is a slot receiver. Rice himself even said that more slot guys “need” to get recognition, which essentially says it all. There is no reason to eliminate a player from Canton conversation because of where he does or doesn’t line up at the line of scrimmage and the types of routes that he runs. Also, the “Edelman isn’t even the best slot guy in his team’s history” is another preposterous narrative. First of all, Welker deserves to be in this discussion, too; nobody is dismissing him. Second, what did Welker ever win with the Patriots? Oh yeah, nothing. He failed when the lights were shining their brightest, too, lest we forget.
I would be foolish not to integrate the fact that Edelman was suspended for PEDs to begin this season and how it could possibly affect his chances of getting in sooner rather than later. It’s kind of difficult to elaborate on that because it speaks for itself. At the same time, the pro football writers are the ones who vote on who gets into the Hall and who doesn’t. If anybody knows that every single guy in the league takes stuff to keep their bodies functioning and effective on a week-to-week basis, it’s pro football writers. This is no secret. Over half a year later, the public still doesn’t know what Edelman was even popped for in the first place, either, which is a bit sketchy in and of itself. But that’s past the point. Edelman has pretty much, and quite obviously, been playing concussed and/or injured since the 2014 Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks. He got absolutely thrown around in that game and ever since, he’s been allowing himself to get banged up out there on a game-to-game basis. I’d be shocked if he wasn’t taking something to, you know, stay alive and function as a human being, let alone a professional, gritty football player who puts his body on the line on every play.
Those of you who are saying that Edelman wouldn’t have played in the playoffs if this were baseball because he got popped for PEDs and that he shouldn’t have been on the field at all these playoffs, you are silly. Baseball is baseball, football is football. The hypotheticals here are downright pointless.
…back to the subject. To summarize, I firmly believe that one day down the road, Julian Edelman will live on forever in football history in Canton. It’ll take a while, but it’ll happen. He’s the second-greatest postseason player in NFL history; he’s going to get in one way or another. To think — to this day, he is still greatly underrated in this league. He can match up with anyone, dominate anyone, and get open against anyone in this league. Boomer Esiason said it best on WEEI: “He is, in my eyes, truly the definition of a Hall of Famer: Make the play when the play needs to be made in the biggest games to win the game.” Nobody is saying he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but I’m saying that he deserves to get in down the road and he will get in down the road. Because he’s worthy. He’s deserving. If you, a football fan, fails to see that, you need to “x” out of Pro Football Focus for a second. Sometimes it feels like the human element of sports has been ripped out and thrown away by so many fans, especially so with the topic of Julian Edelman. I think a lot of it has to do with the Patriots hate aspect of things, but it’s still a bit shameful, looking at this overall discussion as a diehard football fan myself.
In my eyes, it would be disgraceful if Edelman did not end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This may be a hot take to some, but to intellectuals like myself (the sarcasm is real here), this is far from a scorcher. This Hall of Fame discussion was taking place in the weeks leading up to the big game. This isn’t some brand new development solely based on Edelman’s MVP performance. This has been in the making for an extended time now, and for good reason.
Comentários