Julian Edelman

[Jimmy Chitwood]

the fast, incredibly quick, multi-talented Edelman is getting some good press from different sources.

Although Edelman, 6-foot, 198 pounds, was a signal-caller for the Golden Flashes, his future with the Patriots is likely as a wide receiver, kick returner, and he may potentially also see time as a running back or as a wildcat.

A LOOK AHEAD: It'll be the 32-year-old Moss on the outside and the 28-year-old Welker in the slot, with the other outside receiver position a battle between Lewis and Galloway. Aiken is a solid special teams presence who saw limited time at receiver last season â€" his versatility will likely be enough to win him a spot on the roster.


As for the rest, they appear to be squarely on the bubble, with the exception of Edelman. The former Kent State quarterback (taken in the seventh round of the 2009 draft) is an intriguing prospect, one who showed a lot during spring practices. He lined up at multiple spots on the field â€" in addition to his work at receiver, he lined up as a returner and was at quarterback in the scout team drills for the No. 1 defense â€" and his positional versatility could make it difficult to sneak him through to the practice squad.

 

[Leonardfan]

This is one guy I am really hoping impresses during the preseason and earns a roster spot. Patriots have gone somewhat caste lately, especially on defense.

 

[celticdb15]

Leonardfan the Pats have gone from having 3 white starting lbs to now zero. On offense i will still root for them though! Any updates on RayVentrone the special teams demon? I know someone mentioned last year that he ran the wildcat at times during Pats practices.Edited by: celticdb15

 

[green fire317]

there is talk of ventrone being the special teams captain. My friend met him and told me he is a really cool guy. i think he lead the pats in special teams tackles last year. oh and i forgot to tell you guys but they had Stryker Sulak visiting the pats yesterday....i think it was yesterday cant remember.

 

[Thrashen]

Leonardfan the Pats have gone from having 3 white starting lbs to now zero. On offense i will still root for them though! Any updates on Ray Ventrone the special teams demon? I know someone mentioned last year that he ran the wildcat at times during Pats practices.

CelticDB, are you referring to the short time in which Monty Beisel, Vrabel and Bruschi were all starting? This season, Bruschi and DT Mike Wright are the only white defensive players who will get playing time. Hopefully they will in fact sign chargers LB Matt Wilhelm.

Edelmann's future competition is former Eagles super-scrub Greg Lewis, and grandfather Galloway. If he avoids the traditional ethnic cleansing, he may start alongside Moss and Welker in the coming seasons.

 

[celticdb15]

Leonardfan the Pats have gone from having 3 white starting lbs to now zero. On offense i will still root for them though! Any updates on RayVentrone the special teams demon? I know someone mentioned last year that he ran the wildcat at times during Pats practices.

CelticDB, are you referring to the short time in which Monty Beisel, Vrabel and Bruschi were all starting? This season, Bruschi and DT Mike Wright are the only white defensive players who will get playing time. Hopefully they will in fact sign chargers LB Matt Wilhelm.

Edelmann's future competition is former Eagles super-scrub Greg Lewis, and grandfather Galloway. If he avoids the traditional ethnic cleansing, he may start alongside Moss and Welker in the coming seasons.

YES!
I truly am excited for Julian to be on the Pats and for his potential to assert himself in the NFL in the upcoming seasons.

 

[Jack Lambert]

I hope Edelmann can beat out scrub Lewis and Grandpa Galloway and play with Moss and Welker this year. Also, the Pats have one more white defensive player, for now. They signed OLB Rob Ninkovich and waived OLB Vince Redd.

http://profootball.scout.com/a.z?s=127&p=9&c=2&cid=884104&nid=4309684&fhn=1

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Edelman will make a good WR, but I think he'd make an even better tailback, although he may have needed to add 5-12 lbs. Good thing is- unlike Eric Crouch- he doesn't mind going across the middle as a slot WR.

Edelman should be an absolute beast after the catch. The guy ran a ridiculous 3.92 short shuttle after a solid 4.52- 40 for an NFL starting tailback. This is an amazing 0.60 second difference- and that would score him as the most agile athlete for every single WR and RB in the X-Y plane (indicative of one cut and accelerate agility) for all of last year's Combine. He also broad jumped a stellar 10-3, so he has great agility in the X-Z plane as well (swivel in tight space agility- aided by hamstring strength and leg lift).

Of course both the broad jump and short shuttle test something for both agility types, but the short shuttle trends toward X-Y agility and the broad jump trends toward X-Z agility. IMO the 3-Cone is more indicative of a blend of the two- and he ran a jaw dropping 6.62 in that drill!Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[whiteathlete33]

We need him at tailback. We already have some white receivers at least but tailbacks are even rarer. Those numbers you mention TOUGHJ are very impressive indeed.

 

[Don Wassall]

<H1 =p5h>PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK: Edelman isn't coming up short</H1>
<H2 =p5h>The seventh-round draft pick is making progress in his transition from college quarterback to NFL wide receiver-return man.</H2>



Julian Edelman may be developing into a rather intriguing short story this summer.

"Yeah,"Â the quarterback-turned-wide receiver answered when asked if the shift in positions is best for his football career. "I'm only 5-10 and I just do what they tell me to do. That's all I can do."Â
With the exception of that day in July when he was fielding punts in much the same manner that Julio Lugo was fielding ground balls at Fenway in June, Edelman seems to be doing quite well at the Patriots' Gillette Stadium training camp.

"I'm encouraged the way I'm learning the offense,"Â said Edelman, a seventh-round pick (232nd overall) in the April NFL draft. "OTAs (organized team activities), I was struggling learning my formations and my depths and everything. It's coming along.
"I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything, but it's coming along. I'm starting to get used to the terminology and learning things."Â
These days, Edelman is speaking a whole different language.

A quarterback who accounted for 26 touchdowns (13 passing, 13 rushing) his senior year at Kent State, when he ran (1,551 yards) for nearly as many yards as he threw (1,820), it is Edelman's hands, not his arm or legs, that will decide his fate with the Patriots.

While it's far too early to say that Edelman has a grasp of the situation, the former Golden Flash does seem to be catching on, displaying a sure set of hands and the ability to get open.

"I still have a long way to go,"Â Edelman said, "but I'm fortunate to play with the receivers that we have here with the New England Patriots: Randy (Moss), Joey (Galloway), Greg Lewis, and Wes (Walker) especially playing the slot helping me. They're teaching me everything they know and giving me little pointers here and there. It's a great help."Â
He strives to be a latter-day Welker, the 5-9 (so says the press guide, anyway; of course, that's the same press guide that lists Edelman as six feet) wide receiver who since breaking into the league as a longshot himself (a rookie free agent with the San Diego Chargers in 2004) has developed into the most often-used target in New England's high-powered offense over the past two years.

"As long as you know the playbook and give them some short-area quickness,"Â said Edelman. "You know Wes, people don't appreciate the way he knows the game the way he does, and how he's on the same page with Tom (Brady) on everything. That's why he's so good.
"(It's) his athletic ability, also, but that's a huge part of Wes' game. He's just on the same page and he gets in and out of those cuts. That's what I'm trying to learn to do. Trying to be like Wes: That's all I can do."Â
Edelman also strives to emulate Welker in the punt return game, in which the two of them and Kevin Faulk have drawn the bulk of the work in training camp.

Sure there was that day â€" it was the second of camp â€" when he looked like he was attempting to catch the ball with cymbals on his hands, but beyond that, Edelman really hasn't looked like a guy whose college experience in that aspect of the game was limited to the tail end of his career at Kent State.

"It's just repetition,"Â Edelman said. "My college career I did it for like the last four games, but that's college. This is a totally different level, and I'm still learning.

"All I need is to keep on getting as many as I can. That's going to help me out because all it is is confidence. Once you learn how to judge a ball, it's confidence. It's coming."Â
While it remains to be seen if he can complete the transition, progress is indeed being made, part of the proof coming in the fact that Edelman saif he no longer thinks like a quarterback but like a wide receiver-punt returner instead.

"I've moved forward,"Â Edelman said. "I'm happy where I'm at, just contributing anywhere I can on this team."Â
IS PARIS HURTING?
Inside linebacker Paris Lenon exited Sunday's practice early.

Lenon left the field under his own power, but he was accompanied to the locker room by a member of the Patriots' training staff.

NO WORD ON THURSDAY
During his daily press conference at Gillette, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said that he and his staff had yet to reach any type of decision regarding playing time in Thursday night's preseason opener at Philadelphia.

"We haven't even talked about playing time or how we're going to do that yet," Belichick said. "It's probably something we'll do here in a couple of days â€" Tuesday, Wednesday."Â
http://www.patriotledger.com/sports/x1331802474/PATRIOTS-NOTEBOOK-Edelman-isn-t-coming-up-short

 

[whiteathlete33]

He is a great athlete and can succeed at receiver.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

as i posted in the Pre-Season thread, Edelman looked great in his debut!
he scored on a 75-yard punt return, and also had a team-high 5 catches. he's a damn good ball player.

 

[backrow]

rotoworld posted a blurb on him, adding that he seems to be a favorite for team's number 4 receiver after Welker, Moss, brittle Galloway.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Yeah backrow, I saw that too. Hopefully, he'll get that fourth reciever spot.

 

[Tom Iron]

Edelman could make this real interesting. That'd be something to see, two out of three wr's, White guys. Unless of course, they got rid of Welker. I never rule anything out.

Tom Iron...

 

[backrow]

Welker is established by now, and a huge part of Patriots' plans. plus he's still only 28. let's not get silly here.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i hope Tom Iron is wrong, but he does have history on his side ... Mike Furrey led the conference with 98 receptions and was quickly shown the bench before the start of the next season.

this IS the NFL we're talking about here. there's no limit to the lengths they'll go in order to screw a White athlete.

 

[Jack Lambert]

I hope Tom is wrong too, but the difference between Furrey and Welker is the Patriots actually WANTED to get Wes from the Dolphins.

 

[Thrashen]

I agree JL, Wes Welker is perhaps the most "safe" white WR over the past 10-15 seasons. Even the extreme anti-white media would question him being traded, cut, or demoted. Then again, nothing is impossible in scripted ameriKa.

It would be simply amazing if Edelman could "beat out" perrenial wimp, Joey Galloway. I'm sure he's already outplayed him in practice. The more likely situation would be Galloway getting injured, haha.

If Edelman, Welker, and Moss all start during any given game....that would give the Pats 8 white starters on offense. Oh wait, the Pats made an amazingly brilliant move in signing the world's greatest WR, Grew Lewis. Even the drunken Philly fans knew this guy played like a p*ssy (Todd Pinkston without the height).

Don't worry, Bellichick's traditional, elderly caste defense will continue unabated.

 

[whiteathlete33]

If Welker didn't get signed by the Patriots and given this great oppurtunity he would be rotting on some teams bench or be a third receiver for the rest of his career.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i'm not going to quote her "article on Julian Edelman," because it is painfully filled with grammatical errors and just horrible writing. however, the non-white female author did draw my attention to something that i had missed.
Edelman's 136all-purpose yards accounted for more than half of the Patriots yardage in the game.

the Pats entire offensehad 257 total yards.

 

[backrow]

hehe, good find, and from an unlikely source!

 

[bigunreal]

Galloway has been washed up for a few years now, but in Isaac Bruce-type fashion, he will be accorded that precious "respect" all black veterans receive. No matter how impressive Edelman is, I can't see the team placing him in 3 WR sets, unless Galloway gets hurt (always a strong possibility), but even then I wouldn't be surprised to see career nonentity Greg Lewis be the third receiver.

In a bizarre story, Belicheck was recently quoted as saying how impressed he's always been with Lewis, and how he and his coaching staff knew about him because Lewis "always beat them" or something like that. How does a WR whose never done anything always beat a winning team like the Patriots?

 

[chris371]

Edelmans return was play No. 1 on NFL.coms top ten preseason plays this weekend.

Im surprised they didnt bury it at no. 10.

Still i recall Jeremy Urban scoring a return TD in preseason but still getting cut. ( ithink it was from the cowboys)

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

here's the bizarre double-think that gets put into print, and then into the heads of the DWF's as if it makes sense ...

<DIV =articlePluck>


I was not impressed by Joey Galloway in the preseason game against the Eagles. Does he still have the competitive edge as well as the skills needed to be effective? And, it looks like Julian Edelman proved he can play in the NFL, so my question is: Do you think that the Pats will feature Edelman in a three-wide or will he only get a chance to play receiver when Welker or Galloway need a breather? Do you think Belichick will design plays to use Edelman as a RB or even have him throwing the ball on an option play?
Otis, Boston
<DIV =articlePluck>


A: Otis, I wouldn't give up on Galloway just yet, although I think it's been clear he's yet to consistently be on the same page with Tom Brady. I still see NFL-caliber skills with Galloway and if the season was starting today, I'd put him on the roster. My sense, however, is that public perception has shifted a bit from late July when there was overwhelming support for him. As for Edelman, I think you'll see him on the 45-man game-day roster doing a little bit of everything - catching passes, returning punts, maybe even some other unexpected stuff. I wouldn't rule anything out with him, and the coaching staff will find creative ways to get the ball in his hands.
<DIV =articlePluck>


Mike, do you see Julian Edelman's skill set similar to that of Wes Welker's? Or does he have the size and ability to line up on the outside as a conventional No. 2 receiver? Do you envision Edelman and Welker ever being on the field at the same time on offense (assuming he makes the roster)?
Tony
<DIV =articlePluck>


A: Tony, I don't see Edelman as a conventional No. 2 receiver right now. I'd list him No. 4 on the depth chart because I think he's a natural in the four-receiver package (imagine him and Welker working the slot on both sides) or as the pure backup to Welker. But if the No. 1 or 2 options were hurt, I could see someone like Greg Lewis (No. 5) possibly leapfrogging Edelman in a two-receiver set.

did you catch all that? the author thinks that:

1) Galloway, despite sucking hard, deserves to make the team.

2) Edelman, despite being the best wideout in camp after Welker and Moss, should be leapfrogged by any no-talent black receiver rather than get the chance to lineup alongside Welker and Moss, or in place of them if there was an injury.

wow. that just doesn't make any sense at all ...