Julian Edelman and Tom Brady were some of the most memorable and overachieving quarterback-wide receiver tandems in modern football. The slot receiver had the perfect speed and smarts to go toe to toe with someone as meticulously prepared as Tom Brady. But it wasn’t always the case. And Brady actually went off on Edelman on the latter’s first day with the Patriots during a practice session when Edelman dropped the ball while competing against three other players.
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But even before getting into the NFL, when Edelman was an 8th grader, he watched Tom Brady play in the Super Bowl. Coming from Redwood City on the San Francisco Peninsula, for the young Edelman, Brady’s Bay Area roots immediately drew him to be a fan. And being a quarterback until college, he also learned a lot from Brady. On the other side of this upsurging underdog — 6th-rounder-led Patriots — were the NFL’s golden boy with a silver spoon, Peyton Manning, and his Indianapolis Colts.
Indy and Pats had a lengthy rivalry. Both were led by premier play callers of their times, but both QBs had a drastically different journey getting to the NFL. And thus, the rivalry was even more polarizing. Edelman too, since his teenage days, has slowly become part of this rivalry. Edelman narrates on his podcast Game with Names,
“He (Brady) was a Bay Area guy and I never liked Indy. I got the tail-end of that whole thing. The Indy-Pats, you know,” followed by, “I never liked Peyton Manning. He was always the guy. The best guy in college, he was the best guy in high school. His dad was a pro. He was the guy, and he was a f***ing stud.”
Obviously, the whole country at the time was divided on Manning vs Brady, which would continue for years.
Edelman Chose Tom Brady Over Peyton Manning Long Before Patriots Job
But Edelman had a clear understanding: “At that point, earlier in the Super Bowls, people were still saying Peyton was the best quarterback.” And it was very true at that time. No one saw Tom Brady coming, while everyone saw the greatness of Peyton Manning right off the bat. And Manning proved it as well, leading the Dolts to the postseason 11 times and winning the Lombardi once. But Edelman was attracted to the ultimate underdog in Tom Brady. Which was not evident to the world even after he had won his first title.
Edelman adds that Tom was “just an underdog, and he was f***ing hungry. And he won games,” reminding the world of a time when Brady winning games was not the expected outcome, but rather the anomaly. But it’s true, Brady acted as an inspiration to millions of kids who saw him as the ultimate underdog. And he wore that chip on his shoulder till the very end of his career.
Somewhere, all the doubts, the rejections, and the oversight around his capabilities and talent have continuously propelled him over two the past decades. As a business owner, investor, and public entity post-retirement as well, he has been on top of his game. It is just that now that the game has turned into joint ventures and bagging deals instead of joint efforts on the field.
