Former New England Patriots unretiring is not a novel concept.
Could a(nother) former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player be headed back to the NFL?
Longtime Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, the Super Bowl LIII MVP, left the door ajar at the prospect of a return in comments recently.
“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Edelman said during an appearance at the Sunset Sports Media Festival in Croatia, via the New York Post.
Edelman, 36, was responding to a question as to if he would return to play with his former quarterback, Tom Brady, who is approaching his third season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He clarified that a comeback would probably be to his most familiar surroundings, though.
“That’s called a little teaser. We’ll see,” Edelman said. “We’re staying in shape but you never know. But I’d probably go back to the Patriots. I love the Patriots. Foxborough forever.”
Edelman’s undoubtedly been posed the comeback question myriad times. To his credit, he’s been consistent in his reply that if a return were to come to be, it would be with the Pats.
“I’m a one-team guy,” he said in May of 2021 when asked if he’d join Brady and Rob Gronkowski with the Bucs.
Gronkowski and Brady have each famously retired and unretired.
Gronk’s future remains cloudy as to whether he’ll re-sign with the Bucs or retire for a second time. And Brady unretired after just 40 days this offseason.
Edelman announced his retirement in April of 2021 after 11 NFL seasons -- all with New England -- in which he racked up 620 receptions for 6,822 yards and 36 touchdowns.
At this point, Edelman’s “teaser” is nothing more than just that, but he’s still only 36 and nagging injuries can start feeling a little better after a couple years of rest.
We’ll see, indeed.