Former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman — a three-time Super Bowl champ, Super Bowl LIII MVP, current “Fox NFL Kickoff” analyst and thorn in the Jets’ side for his 11-year career — catches up with Post column Steve Serby for some Q&A.
Q: How would you describe your TV style?
A: I go out there and I speak analyst terms and have fun.
Q: How would you define Rob Gronkowski’s style?
A: I would say he’s like the loveable teddy bear that is on set.
Q: What are the odds Bill Belichick will be a Fox NFL analyst?
A: I can’t speak for Bill, because if I did, I might get killed.
Q: What would his style be?
A: He’d be quite frank, and he’d probably be a genius. He’s seen so much football, he’d be able to bring up examples of the past of elite players and be able to compare, I think he’d be really good. We’ve watched him on the [NFL Network’s] “NFL 100” show. He’s pretty killer. He’s must-watch TV.
Q: What do you think Tom Brady’s style will be, and how will he do?
A: I don’t know what his style could be, but I bet you he’s gonna be pretty good. He’ll be certainly very prepared for his opportunity.
Q: What are your thoughts on the 0-2 Patriots, and what do you think the mood has been like this week?
A: The mood is probably terrible, They’ve had opportunities to win both of their games. They didn’t make plays when the team needed it. They’ve turned the ball over, they’ve had offensive line problems, which I can expect that to get better with the help of their offensive line in playing more together. Defense looks pretty good. They held Tyreek Hill to under 60 yards in a game. With the way they want to play football, which is good defense, their special teams even make plays, and they gotta be able to play situational football better, better on third down, better in the red area. They have to run the football so they can control the game better. It just hasn’t looked in sync. They’ve looked better … the offense looks like it has some continuity compared to last year, which is a high, but they just haven’t been able to make the plays when their team’s needed it. They’ve been relying on a lot of young players.
Q: How uncomfortable do you think those meetings were this week?
A: I don’t know. Every team is different. I don’t know how Coach is handling this team. This is a lot younger of a football team than I’ve ever played on. We’ve had veterans at established positions my whole career. And one of those X factors is Tom Brady, so you’ve gotta handle the team according to how they could be handled, and I don’t know how this team is capable of handling the scrutiny that we had to go through after losing, because we had a high expectation. I don’t know where their expectations are. This is a very young football team, they’re trying to come into their own. The offense looks better than last year, their defense looks really good. You know how Belichick is, the first month of the season it’s always kind of like: Let’s learn what our strengths and our weaknesses are and let’s build off of ’em and get our weaknesses better, and that’s kind of what this September month is for the Patriots. We used to win those games.
Q: How do you see the AFC East?
A: I see the AFC East as a very tough division. The Jets have a really good defense, but showed they can be handled. If we watch last week, it looked like Dallas controlled that game. Miami looks very explosive … but they looked very explosive until Week 9 last year until Tua [Tagovailoa] started having injury problems, so there’s still question marks there. They’re a very, very good football team. Buffalo seems to kind of be sputtering right now with their offense and with their identity. You don’t really know their identity yet. They blew out a Raiders team that came across the country, but that’s not really saying much. So I think it’s a very competitive division. But I don’t think it’s as strong as what we anticipated at the beginning of the year.
Q: Can the Patriots win the division?
A: I think it’d be very tough for them to win the division right now. They have to find themselves first. They need to worry about getting a win before talking about winning the division.
Q: Did you pick the Jets to finish last before the season?
A: I did.
Q: Why? Even with Aaron Rodgers?
A: Something always bad goes wrong with the Jets, it’s unfortunate. It sucks that I’m the Patriot, the guy that had a lot of success, that beat the Jets a lot, but a lot of things happened to that team. … They had offensive line problems going into the season. … Aaron’s not a young spring chicken. … They’re talking Super Bowl already, and when we start doing those types of things, a lot of complacency can kick in. I wasn’t banking on Aaron Rodgers getting hurt by any means, but I think it’s a tough division. It’s unfortunate.
Q: Do you think Rodgers, at age 40, can return and be effective next year?
A: Yeah. Aaron Rodgers at 70 percent is better than 90 percent of the league. He’s gonna have to adjust the way he plays ’cause some of the best things about Aaron Rodgers was his pocket mobility, and his ability to escape pressure. We’ll see how that’s coming off of an Achilles, those are tough injuries, especially for a guy his age. I know everyone’s been talking like technology this, technology that. But he’s not 22 years old. This is gonna be a grueling recovery. But if anyone can do it … That guy is just a special thrower of the football, and he’s seen a lot of football. He’s probably gonna adjust his game, and I think he will get back.
Q: The Patriots have beaten the Jets 14 straight times. Do you think the Jets have a psychological hurdle to overcome?
A: I would say yes. They have a young football team, so they’re not really rooted into that as much. But New York is New York. You’re the New York Post, it’s gonna be on the Back Page, the media’s always talking about — they’re gonna be talking about that 14 straight. And it’s only gonna be natural for those kids to see on some social article or some news station. They’re gonna see something, so yeah, it can be psychological, but sometimes when you’re young, naive guys that don’t really understand. … It works in their favor. It’s a double-edge.
Q: Describe Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
A: He looks to be improved from last year, but you still need to be able to see him make some plays in some dire-need situations. I expect him to continually to get better at that.
Q: Zach Wilson?
A: He’s got a lot of gunslinger in him, and he’s very confident, or he borders that cocky border. I think a little of last year of what happened to him in his situation will go a long way to see if he can actually come out and be a productive starting quarterback. He got a taste of being humbled. It’s tough for a young gun. … He’s a confident kid, he thinks he can do it. We’ve all watched him on “Hard Knocks.” He just has that attitude, which, you love seeing that, but you also want to see your guy go out and make smart plays, too. It’s not always about throwing touchdowns, sometimes throwing the ball away and punting is a win. Zach needs to not try to make a home run every play. Singles and doubles are pretty cool.
Q: Is Julian Edelman a Hall of Famer?
A: That’s for you to determine. You got a vote, right?
Q: What are you most proud of about your career?
A: I played my best in the biggest games. Plain and simple. When the team needed me the most, I was able to perform, for whatever reason.
Q: Is there anyone in today’s game who reminds you of you?
A: I like [Amon-Ra] St. Brown. He’s not a big, big guy, but his lower end is strong, they line him up in a bunch of different areas — 42 percent of the time he’s on the inside, 42 he’s on the outside, 12 percent of the time he’s tight. That’s the kind of player I was. They would line me up in a lot of different spots. I was versatile. I could play the F, the D, the X, the Y. Everyone puts me in this category of being a smaller guy, I was never really a small guy, I was just shorter.
Q: Describe your on-field mentality.
A: Competitor … I competed.
Q: Why was returning punts so much fun for you?
A: ’Cause it’s kind of like … you gotta be like a fighter pilot. It’s like fight or no flight. You gotta be semi-reckless. … It’s exciting. … There’s a whole lot of energy at that play … it’s a complete team play, like people don’t realize that, you gotta have a lot of trust in your teammates to making their blocks. Sometimes you gotta be able to have the cojones to really not fair catch, try to make someone miss who’s coming full speed down at you. It’s just a fun play that means a lot to me because it helped me get a start in this league.
Q: What drove you then?
A: I was never supposed to be “the guy.” Leading up to my career, my college career, my high school, there was always someone else everyone was always talking about, and they always overlooked me and it pissed me off, ’cause I felt like I was the best guy on the field always.
Q: What drives you now?
A: The same insecurity. Now I’m in TV, there’s other guys that are really good. … I think it’s just the competitiveness of trying to make yourself the best possible version of yourself.
Q: What is the biggest adversity you had to overcome?
A: I tore my ACL, and I got suspended. That was a pretty big one.
Q: How were you able to overcome it?
A: We won a Super Bowl and I got a Super Bowl MVP.
Q: Describe the feeling of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
A: Mentally, emotionally … it was special.
Q: Your three favorite Super Bowl memories? One obviously would be the insane lunging deflected catch off the ground during that epic comeback against the Falcons in LI.
A: The third-down conversion against the Legion of Boom when Kam Chancellor lit me up. I would say the last one was winning Super Bowl MVP.
Q: Are you still amazed when you watch the replay at how you caught that ball off the ground against the Falcons?
A: Kind of, yeah (laugh).
Q: How do you explain that?
A: I don’t know, man, I used to do a lot of like reactional-type drills. Like every day, with different color tennis balls, trying to confuse my mind to react. And I used to do that every morning to warm up my eyes for that day of practice, and maybe that came into account of being able to make that catch, I don’t know.
Q: Would you ever again ponder a comeback?
A: I’m 37. I don’t know, man, it’s tough. You can’t just stop playing football for two years and be naive to think that you could just put the tape on the legs and go out and play. There’s a lot of work that goes into preparing for a 17-[game] season. Also the reaction. When you get on that field, you haven’t been out there, you haven’t felt the speed, you haven’t felt the strength in a while. Do you have the endurance, strength to go do it? I retired because my knee fell apart. Yeah, it feels better now because I’m not loading it as much. You’d be dumb to think you could just come out of a two-year [pause]. … I respect the game and I respect these players way too much.
Q: Describe the 51-yard touchdown pass you threw to Danny Amendola against the Ravens in the 2015 playoffs.
A: We had it in the game plan for like 18 weeks, didn’t know if we were ever gonna use it. We needed it. It was awesome to get to throw a touchdown pass in a divisional game
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: I would love to sit and talk with Barack Obama. I just like the way he sounds, and his delivery even. He’s a smart guy, and I would love to hear the experiences of being the first black president. I want to know the nitty-gritty, I want to know what happened. … Who was that guy that exposed Area 51? Bob Lazar? I would like to see what he thought. … Clint Eastwood. I want to have a stare-off with him.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: I can never turn “Rocky” I, II, III or IV. Can never turn ’em. It’s kind of like a cereal: You don’t have a favorite cereal, you have moods. Do I want a sport mood, do I want like a sci-fi thriller like “Interstellar”? Do I want to like be a superhero? “Batman Begins,” “Dark Knight,” right?
Q: Favorite actor?
A: You can’t go wrong with Christian Bale. He’s got so much range. He’s got such a great acting voice.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Margot Robbie.
Q: Favorite singer/rapper/entertainer?
A: Jay-Z. I got a 6-year-old daughter [Lilly], so I’ve been listening to so much Taylor Swift it’s like just in my head right now.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Cheeseburger, bro.
Q: How is fatherhood?
A: It’s awesome. It’s really cool because I had a really close relationship with my father. It makes you a better person, because all the things you try to instill and teach your child, it reminds you. Like all right, I gotta make my bed. I tell my daughter, she makes her bed. There’s like just little reminders, and you’re molding a person to get ready for this crazy world. It’s s lot of responsibility, but there’s nothing better when you see some sort of progression of any field — whether it’s reading or a soccer play or riding a bike or skateboarding. … When you see your kid put work in and really challenge themselves, and then see a result afterward, there’s nothing better.
Q: How is your daughter like you?
A: Pretty aggressive. We just went to soccer yesterday and I told her, “Just be fast and strong. Don’t worry about anything else.” She’s got that toughness. Just gotta get it out of her a little more.
Q: Describe Robert Kraft.
A: Awesome owner. Loved playing for him. He’s a huge person in the community of Boston and New England. He’s done a lot for the country. Does a lot for Israel. He’s just someone to look up to.
Q: Do you think Tom Brady would ever unretire again?
A: I’m not a betting man, but I would say no.
Q: Who meant more to the Patriots’ dynasty, Belichick or Brady?
A: They both meant a lot. That’s like, you can’t ask me who’s my favorite parent when they get divorced.
Q: Did Belichick ever tell a joke that was funny?
A: Yeah, but I can’t say it on this call.
Q: What did you feel for Tom when he was going through that Deflategate saga?
A: I thought it was bull. I thought it was ridiculous. When you’re winning, always, people try to bring you down. That was dumb.
Q: If someone was building the perfect quarterback, what trait or traits should they take from Tom Brady?
A: There’s a lot of guys that have Tom Brady’s trait, but he just has a gene, to just make it happen. Just make something happen. The ability to adjust on the fly — all right, we don’t have time with the line, let’s get the ball out — the ability to process so fast, and to adjust, and to compartmentalize. … I’ve never seen anyone do it better.