Will Julian Edelman soon follow in the footsteps of his former New England Patriots teammates Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady?
The ex-Patriots wide receiver retired from the NFL before the 2021 season, but there’s been no shortage of speculation about a potential comeback someday down the line. With Gronkowski unretiring in 2020 and Brady having a change of heart shortly after his retirement announcement earlier this year, Edelman might be having second thoughts of his own.
Appearing on the Rich Eisen Show, Edelman admitted he’s starting to miss being on the field.
“I miss it more this year than I did last year,” Edelman told Eisen on Tuesday. “I miss waking up in August, going to the field and smelling the fresh-cut grass, seeing the sprinklers just finished. Seeing our equipment guys just finishing setting all the stuff out. The locker room. The fellas. The competition.
“Now, being in my second year out, I can actually miss it because last year it was still ingrained in my head. That last year was rough. Football is not fun when you’re bruised — when you feel like (expletive).”
Edelman, 36, retired from football largely because his knee injuries became too much to bear. However, with almost two years of recovery under his belt, he wouldn’t rule out a return if the Patriots, Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or another playoff-caliber team came calling later this season.
“I’ll tell you right now, if I had three weeks, three maybe four weeks — beginning of the season, absolutely not,” Edelman said about a possible comeback. “But if there’s a team vying for a playoff run, guy goes down. Could I get ready? I probably could. … You can never say never.”
That certainly doesn’t look like someone committed to hanging ’em up. While Edelman has trolled fans in the past about unretiring, he now appears to be seriously considering whether he has something left in the tank.
For now, Edelman is set to resume his role as an analyst on Paramount Plus’ “Inside the NFL” and launch his new podcast, “Games With Names”.