Five takeaways from Julian Edelman's contract extension . . .
* * * * *
Growing up in Redwood City, California, the then-pocket-sized Edelman would say to friends who didn’t think he’d be able to accomplish something, “Bet against me . . . ” His self-belief from the time he was a 4-foot-11, 70-pound freshman at Woodside High School through now has never wavered. And this deal is a concrete example of Edelman cashing in because he bet on himself. After an injury-marred 2012 season, Edelman didn’t get much attention as a free agent. He came back to the Patriots on a one-year deal for 2013 and proceeded to explode. After that, he signed a fluff-free four-year, $19 million deal. And since signing that, he’s had iconic touchdowns in two Super Bowl wins. Edelman came into the NFL in 2009 after three years as a Kent State quarterback. He somewhat spun his wheels until getting his chance in 2012. That Edelman is closing his career with this kind of on-field production and off-field earnings means that anyone betting against him is making a bad wager.
* * * * *
With a two-year extension, the (just-turned) 31-year-old wideout is now signed through 2019, as are Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. Convenient. Even more convenient: the 2019 season will represent Bill Belichick’s 20th year as head coach of the Patriots and Brady’s 20th year in New England. As I’ve mentioned a few times in the past, Belichick likes round numbers and what it would mean to coach 20 seasons from a historical perspective. If he gets to 20 consecutive with the Patriots, he’d join Tom Landry (29), Curly Lambeau (29), Don Shula (26) and Chuck Noll (23) as men who coached a team for a generation. And nobody’s matching that this century.
* * * * *
Why’d Edelman get extended to play with the team past the age of 31 when Wes Welker wasn’t? Great question. And you have to go back to the Welker-Patriots relationship in 2011 and 2012 to understand. In 2011, Welker caught 122 passes for 1,569 yards and nine TDs. He was an All-Pro and the Patriots got to the Super Bowl, where Welker and Brady failed to connect on a would-be game-sealing completion in the fourth quarter. Welker’s agent, David Dunn, submitted a dossier explaining why Welker should be paid like Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald. The Patriots put the franchise tag on Welker. Pissed, Welker had a less-than-committed offseason heading into 2012. And then he got beaten out by Edelman in training camp. It wasn’t until Aaron Hernandez broke his ankle against Arizona in the season’s second game and Edelman broke his wrist that Welker re-emerged. At the end of that season, Welker was hell-bent on finding the money the Pats wouldn’t give him and hit free agency. The Patriots, snubbing Edelman – who was so injury-plagued at that point – signed Danny Amendola. Welker, realizing the interest wasn’t out there, wanted to rejoin the Patriots but New England had already filled Welker’s spot with Amendola. It was a money thing. With Edelman – who is represented by Don Yee, Steve Dubin and Carter Chow (Yee and Dubin also represent Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo) – it never turned into a financial tug-of-war.
* * * * *
I mentioned the 2014 “fluff-free” deal? I called it that because there was no backloading involved and all the salaries and roster bonuses were evenly distributed. We’ll see when the numbers come out if the new deal provides a little less certainty for Edelman and is more performance-based. With Malcolm Mitchell perhaps emerging and Brandin Cooks now in the house as well, the ball is bound to find Edelman less often than it has in past seasons. Which isn’t a bad thing. He saw the fourth-highest number of regular-season targets (160) and was thrown to 195 times including the postseason. And he returns punts. Backing the workload off a touch is a wise move.
* * * * *
New England Patriots
What about Malcolm Butler? The Patriots have now collected a fleet of free agents (including Stephon Gilmore), gone back to the table early with Gronk (albeit with just a few new incentives to give him a performance boost) and are extending guys like Edelman (who was going to be equally as underpaid as Butler this year). Why doesn’t Malcolm eat? Because the Patriots kinda Welker’d him. He didn’t bite on their offer (which could have topped $10 million per if Butler hit his incentives, according to Mike Reiss) so they signed Gilmore. Now Butler has to suck it up and play for $3.91 million. He could have played it like Edelman did and re-signed for authentic money on a short-term deal at any time over the past couple seasons. He decided not to. I don’t blame him for that – Butler’s first three years were better than Edelman’s – but waiting for the giant windfall comes at a cost and a risk.