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Julian Edelman has gone from catching passes from Jimmy Garoppolo to helping explain how Jimmy G is catching flak from past teammates before his arrival to the San Francisco 49ers.
Back in October 2021 during a segment of the Double Coverage podcast, Ex-New England Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett described Garoppolo as a “b****” twice for revealing how the former backup to Tom Brady decided to not play a game at the last minute — a game the Patriots eventually lost with Jimmy G originally slated to start.
Now, the Super Bowl 53 Most Valuable Player got his chance to address those comments on the I Am Athlete podcast released on Monday, June 27.
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Edelman Details What he Remembered
The game in question: The October 2, 2016 AFC East divisional contest between the Pats and the Buffalo Bills.
Brady was serving a suspension for his involvement with “Deflategate.” Garoppolo was heading into that game battling a sore shoulder — his non-throwing shoulder. But he had still practiced during the week — giving the notion inside the Pats’ facility that he was going to give it a go versus the Bills.
Buffalo blanked New England 16-0, which handed the Patriots their first loss of the season.
Edelman, though, was given a hand-written note by podcast host Brandon Marshall. That note had the direct quote from his former Pats teammate Bennett.
“Bro, we lost two games. One of them was because Jimmy Garoppolo was being a (expletive). He decided not to play right before the game. Jacoby Brissett came out and played with a (expletive) up thumb and played his heart out, but Jimmy was just being a (expletive) about it all,” Edelman read word-for-word. Edelman also shared how Bennett was describing Garoppolo’s agent trying to protect him that day from further injury.
Edelman then got into what he recalled on that day.
“We go into Week 4 and, I guess, Jimmy was practicing,” Edelman said “And then, you know, deciding not to play and Jacoby played with, no ligaments in the thumb, which you can’t do that as a quarterback, you can’t grip.”
The recently retired receiver then revealed that it wasn’t just Bennett who got irate about Garoppolo deciding not to play at the last minute.
“A lot of guys got mad about it. A lot of guys got mad,” Edelman said.
Was one of them Edelman?
“I’m not gonna lie, I got mad about it,” Edelman said. “I sacrifice my body all day long, all day long. I was taking shots for this, numbing up that, ribs, broken ribs, shoulders, Grade 3, hanging on by limbs just to play, you know? I can understand why Marty thinks like that.”
Is Edelman Far From Finished Playing?
Edelman announced his retirement before the 2021 season. However, Brady tried to coax him into giving it one more NFL go with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — which Edelman revealed to the Manning brothers during Monday Night Football on Week 11.
One reason for walking away involved his knee. However, Edelman shared to I Am Athlete co-host Adam “Pacman” Jones the status of his knee and health.
“Now that I’ve taken a year off, my body feels pretty straight,” Edelman said.
He then shared how he still gets out and laces up the cleats on his down time, sparking the notion he may consider a return.
“I’ve gone and dabbled and you go run routes,” Edelman said. “But then, you see when you run routes, the next day, like, all right, I’m not too bad, but I’m already like 10,000 reps behind I feel in my mind,” Edelman said. “If I wanna ball, I’m gonna have to go out and do it consistently time and time again.”
While he has familiarity with Garoppolo, his latest comments and how loaded the receiver unit is in the Bay Area makes Edelman to the 49ers a long shot. He unveiled where he would go.
“If I were to ever come back, I’d come back as a Pat, probably,” he said.
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