Week Four has come and gone, which means that Patriots receiver Julian Edelman has come back. Which means that the Patriots are happy to have him back. And for good reason.
As noted by Kevin Duffy of the Boston Herald, the Patriots don’t have a reliable third-down target without Edelman; recently-arrived Josh Gordon leads all wide receivers with two third-down conversions, coming from his two catches on Sunday against Miami. And none of the receivers could begin to approach doing what Edelman can do while operating out of the slot.
Plus, there’s a quality that Edelman brings to the locker room.
“He’s a leader on the team, leader of that room, and he brings a lot of energy,” receiver Chris Hogan said Tuesday, via Duffy.
Receiver Phillip Dorsett said that Edelman “brings the juice,” and “on the field, he’s a dog.”
“It’s just good to have his energy, focus, intensity back in the building,” receiver who doesn’t play receiver Matthew Slater said. “You could feel it immediately. The sense of urgency that he brings to work every day is contagious.”
Edelman apparently has only one gear, and it’s a gear the Patriots sorely need.
“He doesn’t know how to tempo it, he doesn’t know how to conserve,” Slater added. “He goes all out, and that’s what makes him the player that he is. It’s what has allowed him to have the career that he’s had.”
Edelman hasn’t had much of a career since Super Bowl LI, thanks to an ACL tear and a four-game suspension. Whatever he can bring to the New England offense at this point will be a positive, and if he can play like he did before the injury, the Pats could quickly be jockeying once again for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
