Tom Brady Attempted to Recruit Julian Edleman

Tom Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers early in 2020 and began reaching out to his former teammates about coming along with him. Brady, of course, talked long-time teammate Rob Gronkowski out of retirement and into joining him in Tampa Bay and then to wide receiver Antonio Brown. If you recall, following Gronks and Brown’s signing came the notion that wide receiver Julian Edelman would soon follow. Multiple outlets stated that Tom Brady wouldn’t even reach out to Edleman since he already had Mike Evans, Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin, and well, you get the point. Edleman was not needed; therefore, Brady wouldn’t reach out to him. However, Last night on Monday Night Football’s Manningcast, retired wide receiver Julian Edleman guest appeared and did confirm that his former quarterback Tom Brady did, in fact, reach out to him. Edleman, of course, declined. 

This news is not of any real importance other than highlighting that when some sources had stated that Brady was in contact with certain players in an attempt to recruit them to the Bucs that those sources were accurate. Sometimes it just takes a long time for “the proof” to come to light.  

Edleman retired, of course, and was still under contract with the Patriots at the time, but the wear and tear of the game had taken its toll on his body so he hung it up. Not sure having Edleman would have made much more of a difference than what had transpired over the past 19 or so months, but pretty cool to think about. If only just for a moment.

Julian Edelman told Peyton and Eli Manning last night that Tom Brady hit him up the day he signed with the #Bucs to see if Edelman would join him in Tampa Bay.

Edelman responded: “absolutely not.”#Patriots | #ForeverNE pic.twitter.com/UsXml0OHQ3

— Boston Sports Tok (@BostonSportTok) November 23, 2021