Julian Edelman

Pats Suspect ACL Tear For Julian Edelman

August 25th, 2017 at 9:27pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Patriots suspect that wide receiver Julian Edelman suffered a torn right ACL in the first quarter of their game against the Lions on Friday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports (Twitter link). He’ll undergo an MRI on Saturday.

Edelman departed after succumbing to a non-contact injury on an 18-yard catch and then went to the locker room on a cart. He hauled in three passes for 52 yards in limited action, once again displaying his importance to New England’s Tom Brady-led offense.

Edelman, who has emerged as one of the NFL’s premier wideouts in recent years, finished fourth in the league in both targets per game (9.8) and receptions (98) during the Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning 2016 campaign. He was also one of many postseason heroes for the squad, as he hauled in 21 playoff catches to give him 89 for his nine-year career. Only Jerry Rice (151) and Reggie Wayne (93) have amassed more playoff grabs than the 31-year-old Edelman, who looks like a shoo-in to at least surpass the latter at some point. Unfortunately for the Patriots and Edelman, though, it doesn’t appear he’ll accomplish that feat this season.

The recipient of a two-year, $11MM contract extension in June, Edelman has combined for a whopping 356 receptions in 55 games since his breakout showing in 2013. That type of production will obviously be difficult to replace this season, but the Patriots are still equipped with plenty of quality targets. Newcomer Brandin Cooks will take the helm of what should be an Edelman-less receiving corps, while Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell also figure to make sizable impacts. What’s more, the Pats likely have the best tight end duo in the league – Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen – as well as established pass-catching running backs in James White and Dion Lewis. Brady will have no shortage of options at his disposal this year, then, but his favorite choice is unlikely to be a factor as the team goes for its sixth Lombardi Trophy.

Julian Edelman Suffers Knee Injury

August 25th, 2017 at 6:21pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman exited the team’s game against the Lions in the first quarter on Friday after he suffered a non-contact right knee injury, the Pats confirmed. Edelman limped off the field after an 18-yard reception and then went to the locker room on a cart. His injury looks “consistent” with an ACL tear, Dr. David Chao of Sirius XM tweets.

Edelman, who’s in his ninth season with the Patriots, has long been one of quarterback Tom Brady‘s favorite targets, having amassed 425 receptions and 24 touchdowns during his time in New England. The 31-year-old totaled 98 catches, a career-best 1,106 yards and three touchdowns last season and tallied 21 more receptions for 342 yards and a score during the Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning playoff run. Edelman ranks third all-time in postseason catches (89) and has been part of two Super Bowl championship teams in New England, which awarded him a two-year, $11MM contract extension in June.

A severe injury to Edelman would ostensibly damage the Patriots’ chances of winning their sixth title of the Brady/Bill Belichick era this season, though their offense would remain in an enviable position even without him. The Pats continue to boast offseason acquisition Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Malcolm Mitchell and Danny Amendola at wideout, while Rob Gronkowski and trade pickup Dwayne Allen lead their tight ends. They also possess multiple pass-catching running backs in James White – who, like Edelman, was instrumental in the Pats’ Super Bowl LI win over the Falcons – and Dion Lewis.

Extra Points: 49ers, NFLPA, OBJ, Ihedigbo

June 9th, 2017 at 9:06pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Pass rusher Elvis Dumervil told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area that he spoke with a “handful of teams” between his release from the Ravens in March and his signing with the 49ers this week. In the end, Dumervil’s familiarity with general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan helped direct him to San Francisco. Dumervil played with Lynch in Denver from 2006-07, when Kyle Shanahan’s father, Mike Shanahan, was the Broncos’ coach. The elder Shanahan drafted Dumervil, who has since racked up 99 sacks. Now, even though he’s 33 and coming off an Achilles injury that limited him to eight games last season, Dumervil feels “great” and believes he has “a few years left, for sure.”

Patriots, Julian Edelman Agree To Extension

June 8th, 2017 at 5:10pm CST by Zachary Links

It’s a done deal. The Patriots and Julian Edelman have agreed to a multi-year extension, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Earlier today, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com reported that the two sides were nearing agreement.

The two-year, $11MM pact includes $9MM in total guarantees and $7MM in full guarantees, and will keep Edelman in New England through 2019, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com and Albert Breer of The MMQB (all Twitter links). The contract also comes with a $5MM signing bonus and $4MM in reachable incentives, giving it a $15MM max.

Edelman, 31, turned in one of his best seasons to date last year. In 2016, Edelman set a new personal watermark in receiving yards (1,106) and also had 98 catches and three touchdowns. Even with Brandin Cooks in the mix and Rob Gronkowski back in the lineup, Edelman still figures to be a top target for Tom Brady.

Edelman was selected with the No. 232 overall pick in the 2009 draft and it’s safe to say that he has outperformed his draft slot. In his rookie season, Edelman had 37 catches for 359 yards and one score. He wasn’t utilized much in the next few regular seasons, but since 2013, he has been a key part of the Pats’ offense. Now, the new contract should allow the Kent State product to complete his career in New England.

Of course, highlighting Edelman’s regular season achievements only tell half of the story with him. Since the Super Bowl era, Edelman ranks third in career playoff receptions with 89, as James Palmer of NFL.com (on Twitter) notes. He’s behind only Jerry Rice (151) and Reggie Wayne (93) on that all-time list and could very well pass Wayne before he’s through with football.

Patriots, Julian Edelman Nearing Extension

June 8th, 2017 at 1:02pm CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots and wide receiver Julian Edelman are moving toward a contract extension, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. The new deal should be completed in the next day or so, he adds.

Edelman’s current deal is set to expire after the 2017 season. He’s set to carry a $5.75MM cap number in the final year of the four-year, $17MM pact he inked in March 2014. As he enters his age-31 season, Edelman’s next deal could be his last in the NFL.

The Patriots added Brandin Cooks to the fold this offseason, but Edelman still figures to be a key part of Tom Brady‘s passing attack. Last year, Edelman set a career high in receiving yards (1,106) with 98 catches and three touchdowns. Over the last four years, Edelman has an average of 104 grabs and 1,113 yards with six touchdowns per 16 games. He has largely stayed healthy over that span too, with the exception of his nine-game 2015 campaign.

The Patriots currently have upwards of $19MM in cap room, so there is plenty of space to work with for New England.

Extra Points: Manziel, Edelman, Bailey, Lions

July 17th, 2016 at 8:58pm CST by Sam Robinson

The prospect of his NFL career currently exists as a sore conversation topic for Johnny Manziel. The 23-year-old former Browns quarterback, according to Kent Babb of the Washington Post, orders the subject changed when his playing career or the NFL comes up during discussions with his friends.

Many of Manziel’s friends do not know if he wants to play football again. One of Manziel’s close confidants told Babb in May that he did not expect the former Heisman Trophy-winning passer to attempt a comeback. Recent indications pointed to Manziel reconsidering a comeback in 2017. A substance abuse-induced suspension will shelve the free agent for four games in 2016, but the Texas A&M product seemed a long shot to land with a team even before the league handed down that ban.

Manziel, though, sent a statement to the Washington Post indicating he’s still interested in playing football despite his myriad legal troubles and various concerns emerging about his well-being.

“I’m actually doing well. I have good friends around me supporting what I do and I try to support them in what they want to do,” the statement read. “I’m not saying I’m never drinking again, but for now just mostly being healthy. I’ve got a killer gym in my house and I can spend time working out. I’m interested in doing a lot of different things in my life — including football — but, right now, I’m just exploring options and waiting to see what the future holds.”

Here’s more from around the league.

Julian Edelman is unsure when he’ll be cleared to play, Chris Mason of the Boston Herald reports. The eighth-year Patriots wide receiver suffered a Jones fracture in his foot last season and underwent surgery during the spring, his second on that troublesome left foot. The 30-year-old slot staple missed seven games for the Pats last season and underwent the additional corrective procedure despite hauling in 17 passes for 153 yards in two playoff games.
It appears Stedman Bailey won’t be serving in a non-playing role with the Rams this season after he previously planned to function in that capacity. The former West Virginia standout returned to his alma mater and will work as a student assistant in Morgantown this season, according to an ESPN.com report. The 25-year-old receiver saw a drive-by shooting derail his NFL career and then observed the Rams waive him, as it still seems bleak he’ll play again. Bailey will re-enroll at school to complete his degree, although he’s not giving up on returning to the NFL. “Even though my playing career isn’t over yet, this gives me more time to heal so I can make a return,” Bailey said in a statement released by the university.
Beyond Ameer Abdullah, Theo Riddick and fullback Michael Burton, the Lions will have a host of fringe ball-carriers competing for their final two running back jobs — assuming Detroit keeps four tailbacks. Ridley looks like the favorite to win the No. 3 job, which Tim Twenyman of DetroitLions.com categorizes as a change-of-pace back. Joining George Winn, Zach Zenner and rookie seventh-rounder Dwayne Washington, the 27-year-old Ridley played in nine games last year with the Jets but received just 36 carries.
Of course, the Lions’ backfield dynamic could change if they sign Arian Foster, who is set to visit Detroit this week.

AFC East Notes: Patriots, Edelman, Bills, Archer

May 12th, 2016 at 9:24am CST by Zachary Links

Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman recently underwent left foot surgery but is on track to return for training camp, sources tell Adam Schefter and Mike Reiss of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Edelman recently was spotted in New York City with a protective boot on his foot and riding around on a motorized device after having undergoing a “cleanup procedure” (link).

Last year, Edelman missed roughly half of the regular season due to his foot injury. In nine games, the 29-year-old caught 61 passes for 692 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Here’s more out of the AFC East:

The Patriots worked out wide receiver LaRon Byrd on Wednesday, according to a source who spoke with Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). Byrd has had previous stints with Arizona, Dallas, Cleveland, and Miami. Washington released Byrd earlier this month.
Joe Buscaglia of WKBW looked at how running back Dri Archer could fit in with the Bills. Buffalo already has LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams at tailback with two other promising young players behind them, so he feels that Archer’s best chance at cracking the roster would be to make it as a kickoff/punt returner. In 2015, the Bills were one of the worst teams in the league when it came to returning the ball on special teams, so Archer’s speed could provide a big boost in that area.
A phone call from Bill Belichick sealed the deal for undrafted running back D.J. Foster to sign with the Patriots, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes. “I was talking to a few teams at the time, but when I got the chance to talk to Coach Belichick, I kind of took a step back and talked to my family, figuring out what’s right for me in my life as a young adult,” the former Arizona State athlete said. “I thought it was the best decision for me.” Foster was a hybrid receiver/tailback in college but so far the Patriots have been utilizing him as a running back in practice. For his part, Foster says that he isn’t bummed out about going undrafted and says he’s excited about the opportunity that he has in New England.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Patriots Rumors: Chung, Knighton, Gronk, Edelman

April 3rd, 2016 at 10:22am CST by Rory Parks

As most of the NFL world continues to be consumed by Colin Kaepernick rumors and draft talk, let’s take a look at some notes from the Patriots, who are quietly preparing to make a run at their eighth consecutive AFC East title:

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com weighs in on Patrick Chung‘s recent contract extension, observing that the Patriots took the $1.8MM that Chung was likely to earn in playing-time incentives in 2016 and 2017 and turned it into a $1.8MM signing bonus, along with an extra $600K. In return, Chung added one year to his contract, keeping him under club control through 2018. New England, as Reiss notes, frequently turns incentives into signing bonus money as part of a win-win strategy that makes the player happy by giving him upfront cash and makes the team happy by keeping a productive player in the fold for another season. The extension was therefore not, as some have suggested, a simple display of generosity on the part of the Patriots as a reward to Chung for a job well done; there are rarely any giveaways in Foxborough, and the Chung contract was no exception.
In the same piece, Reiss opines that the one-year, $4.5MM deal Terrance Knighton recently inked with New England sounds a little high, given that the team was unwilling to make that kind of commitment for Akiem Hicks and Nick Fairley and consequently missed out on both players. Reiss believes that Knighton’s base pact is more likely to be closer to $2MM, with realistic incentives that could push it to $3MM and less realistic incentives that could max out at $4.5MM.
Knighton is just the latest in a long list of defensive tackles who sign on with the Patriots in the latter stages of their careers hoping to rekindle or continue their success, as Christopher Price of WEEI.com writes. Keith Traylor, Ted Washington, Shaun Ellis, Albert Haynesworth, Andre Carter, Tommy Kelly, and Alan Branch have all landed with New England relatively late in their careers, and you can pretty much count on New England bringing at least one such player aboard every offseason.
Just as the Patriots converted some of Chung’s incentives into a signing bonus, Ben Volin of The Boston Globe believes the team will likely do something similar in the near future with Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. Volin writes that New England will probably take future base salaries for Edelman and Gronkwoski–both of whom are significantly underpaid when compared with the going market rate for their respective positions–and convert them into signing bonus money in an effort to keep them happy and focused.
Volin does observe that the Patriots have already prepared for Gronkowski and Edelman to be at least little unhappy with their current deals. The contracts for both players call for $250K workout bonuses for attending 90% of the team’s offseason practices, by far the highest workout bonuses of any Patriots player, so if they were to protest their contracts by skipping offseason workouts, they would miss out on a fair amount of money.

East Notes: Fitzpatrick, Patriots, Giants

March 13th, 2016 at 11:36am CST by Rory Parks

We heard earlier today that the Broncos have, in fact, reached out to free agent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, but like the Jets, Denver is unwilling to meet Fitzpatrick’s current salary demands. As Brian Costello of The New York Post writes, Denver’s “stinginess” in that regard could push Fitzpatrick back to New York, since other quarterback-needy clubs like the Browns, 49ers, and Rams have expressed no interest in the 33-year-old. Costello does have a point, and as he writes in a separate piece, it is probably time for both sides to come out of their respective trenches and compromise, with a contract worth about $10MM per year and some incentives based on statistics or playoff appearances looking like a fair middle ground.

Now let’s take a look at some more links fro the league’s east divisions:

Count Jets wideout Brandon Marshall as one big-name member of Gang Green that wants Fitzpatrick to return to the team. As Seth Walder of The New York Daily News writes, Marshall fears losing Fitz to free agency, saying, “The way we communicate, the way we practice together, the way we bring other guys together, I’ve never seen that anywhere else. And I’ve been a lot of places. And I’ve had a lot of quarterbacks. So that’s the toughest thing for me when I think about him potentially putting on another jersey.”
The Patriots, as usual, have been relatively quiet during the first wave of free agency, and as Ben Volin of The Boston Globe observes, that approach makes sense, as New England already has its top players under contract and is saving to re-sign some of its key contributors whose contracts expire at the end of the 2016 season (like Malcolm Butler, Jamie Collins, and Rob Ninkovich). Volin suggests, however, that the team may want to take care of Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman now to head off any possible discontent (Gronkowski has recently expressed frustration with his contract on Twitter, and while Edelman has not publicly voiced any concern with his current deal, the fact that Chris Hogan and Danny Amendola are set to make more money than him in 2016 could change things in a hurry).
Unlike New England, the Giants made a huge splash in the early stages of free agency, and Ralph Vacchiano of The New York Daily News commends the club for its extravagances. Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, though, notes that Big Blue is not done spending, and he puts together a list of second-tier players the Giants could target, a list that includes players like Andre Holmes, Rashad Johnson, and Andre Branch.
Raanan passes along a note on Keenan Robinson‘s new deal with the Giants, pointing out that the contract is actually a one-year, $2.6MM pact. It had previously been reported that Robinson had inked a one-year, $3.5MM deal, but Raanan says that $900K of that figure is comprised of not likely to be earned incentives. Raanan’s piece provides details on all of the Giants’ free agent contracts thus far.
Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald welcomes the Dolphins‘ new, more measured approach to free agency this offseason, a stark contrast to the team’s recent free-spending ways. Although one can take issue with some of Miami’s decisions–the Mario Williams signing, for instance–the change in strategy is still refreshing.

East Notes: Hatcher, Eagles, Edelman, Gase

January 10th, 2016 at 9:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here is the latest coming out of the Eastern divisions as the eight remaining teams begin full preparations for their divisional-round matchups.

After Washington‘s wild-card loss to the Packers, Jason Hatcher will consider retirement, Mike Jones of the Washington Post tweets. The 33-year-old defensive end had a postgame conversation with GM Scot McCloughan, and Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com notes Washington may have to convince him to return next season. “I’ve been thinking lately about this being my last year, you know, retiring,” Hatcher told media. “One thing I’ve got to pray about. [McCloughan] said he wanted me around. I’m not going to hold them up on my decision. I’m going to make it pretty quick.” Hatcher just completed the second season of a four-year, $27.5MM contract. He’s set to occupy an $8.73MM cap number in 2016.
Now a free agent, Alfred Morris was noncommittal about a Washington return, John Keim of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). “When I first came into the league, no matter what team I went to … I just wanted to do my whole career with the same team. That’s still my goal. I would love to return, but a lot goes into that. I haven’t thought about that,” Morris told media. Coming off by far his worst season as a pro, Morris enters free agency in a class with Matt Forte, Lamar Miller, Chris Ivory and probably Marshawn Lynch. A former sixth-round draft pick, Morris averaged a career-low 3.7 yards per carry and would likely not command a high salary despite being set for his age-27 season come training camp.
Ryan Mathews recently underwent groin surgery, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Caplan (on Twitter). First listed with the malady on the Eagles‘ injury report in Week 6, Mathews played 13 games this season. He finished with a career-best 5.0 yards per carry, although the 107 totes represented Mathews’ lowest number in a season in which he played at least 12 games.
The Eagles’ new coaching search resembles safer, Andy Reid-type candidates than Chip Kelly-esque innovators, Les Bowen of Philly.com writes. Adam Gase did not receive an offer from the Eagles, and Doug Pederson, someone who Bowen doesn’t think would have captured the Eagles’ attention in 2013, entered the process as Jeffery Lurie‘s favorite among non-head coaches. Pederson reportedly interviewed with the Eagles for 4 1/2 hours from Kansas City.
Cleared to play in the Patriots‘ sixth straight divisional playoff game, Julian Edelman will do so with a steel plate in his left shoe in an attempt to prevent re-fracturing his foot, WHDH’s Joe Amorosino reports (via WEEI.com). Edelman missed the Pats’ final seven regular-season games after breaking a bone in his foot Nov. 15.
Gase’s innovative offensive methods notwithstanding, sources tell SI.com’s Don Banks the 37-year-old coach’s intellectual approach may struggle from a leadership perspective, considering the kind of year the Dolphins just had and the fact that the mild-mannered Joe Philbin didn’t exactly win over the team.

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