Tom Brady and Julian Edelman made a lot of magic together as teammates on the New England Patriots. So, it's no surprise Brady tried to get Edelman on board to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers once he made his decision to leave the Patriots for the Florida-based squad.
The former Patriots wide receiver joined Peyton and Eli Manning's broadcast of Monday night's game between Brady's Buccaneers and the New York Giants. Edelman opened up about Brady trying to recruit him immediately:
Interesting nugget from Edelman about Brady’s Tampa recruiting on the MNF Manningcast #patriots pic.twitter.com/OKuyFH16FB
— Fitzy (@FitzyGFY) November 23, 2021
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Brady wasted no time trying to get his longtime Patriots teammate to Tampa. But Edelman wasn't having it with the simple “absolutely not” response, and he was under contract with New England at that time anyway. The wide receiver ultimately retired after the 2020 season.
While Brady's recruitment of Edelman was unsuccessful after they won three Super Bowls together, the quarterback was, of course, able to convince Rob Gronkowski to come out of retirement to join him in Tampa. The duo proceeded to win yet another Super Bowl together as teammates.
In addition to dishing on Brady's recruiting efforts, Edelman also said he was pretty close to joining Eli's Giants in 2013. The wide receiver decided to return to the Patriots after Peyton's Broncos signed Wes Welker.
“The rest is history,” said Edelman. “You guys are saying, ‘Once a Giant, always a Giant.’ Well, ‘Almost a Giant, always a Patriot.'”
The rest is history, indeed.
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