Another all-time Patriot has moved on. Julian Edelman retired from football on Monday at age 34 after a spectacular career spent entirely in New England. A seventh-round pick in the 2009 draft, he didn't really come alive until 2013, when he became one of the best slot receivers in the game.
Three 1,000-yard seasons, 620 career catches and, most importantly, a big-time postseason performer (capped by a Super Bowl MVP), Edelman's numbers aren't quite Hall of Fame worthy, but that doesn't take away his impact on three Super Bowl-winning teams.
As we celebrate his career, here are the five most impressive plays or performances from one of the great Patriots of all-time.
5) Super Bowl MVP: Edelman made more legendary plays in his other two Super Bowls, but he was the game's MVP in the final one against the Rams. The low-scoring affair from Super Bowl LIII finished with a 13-3 final, but Edelman was the lone outlier in terms of offensive production. He caught 10 passes for 141 yards, accounting for over half of the Pats' receiving production on the day... and enough to garner game MVP honors.
4) Coming out party vs. Colts, 2012: Three years after being drafted, Edelman hadn't done much offensively, but he began showing flashes against Indianapolis in November 2012. In a 59-24 demolition of the Colts, Edelman caught five passes for 58 yards and a score (his third straight game with a touchdown), returned a punt 68 yards to the house and had another 49-yard return, added a rush for 47 yards, and on special teams had a tackle and a forced fumble. Not bad for one day's work.
3) Edelman the quarterback, 2014 Divisional Round: You might have heard once or twice on a Patriots broadcast that Edelman played quarterback in college at Kent State. In his regular season career he went a perfect 6-for-6, including a touchdown pass in 2019 against Philadelphia, but it was the postseason where he'll always be remembered for his arm.
Just 1-for-2 passing in the playoffs, he made the one count. In the 2014 Divisional Round against Baltimore, New England trailed 28-21 late in the third quarter when Bill Belichick went into his bag of tricks. A backwards swing pass from Tom Brady allowed Edelman to pull the trigger to find a wide-open Danny Amendola for a 51-yard touchdown to tie the game, eventually win it, and go all the way to the Super Bowl, where Edelman's heroics weren't complete...
2) Super Bowl Champion: The game is best remembered for Malcolm Butler's goal-line interception. But the reason the Patriots had the lead to begin with?
Julian Edelman.
With just over two minutes to play, trailing 24-21, Brady found Edelman for a three-yard go-ahead touchdown that proved to be the game-winner. It was Edelman's ninth catch of the day for 109 yards and that score, helping to win his first of three Super Bowls.
1) The Catch: There could be no other moment for the top choice. The historic 28-3 comeback in Super Bowl LI doesn't happen without Edelman's catch. You know the one. On the game-tying drive a deep Brady pass over the middle was deflected into the air. As three Falcons and Edelman sprawl for the ball, Edelman somehow fights through the contact and makes a finger-tip grab with the ball millimeters from the turf.
It goes down with David Tyree's helmet catch and Lynn Swann's circus grab as the greatest non-touchdown grabs in Super Bowl history.