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Julian Edelman on why he didn’t leave Patriots to join Tom Brady in Tampa: ‘I had to go down with the ship’

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Julian Edelman on why he didn’t leave Patriots to join Tom Brady in Tampa: ‘I had to go down with the ship’

Julian Edelman had reasons for not joining Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Unlike Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman finished his NFL career having played for only one NFL team: the New England Patriots. That came up during the first episode of Edelman and Gronkowski’s “Dudes on Dudes” podcast.

The tight end gave Edelman a decent amount of razzing during their premiere when he brought up how Edelman didn’t follow Brady and Gronkowski to Tampa Bay after winning three Super Bowls together. Edelman had a fairly understandable response: he was under contract, specifically a two-year, $18 million contract that ran through 2021.

Gronkowski still insisted Edelman could have enjoyed a longer career had he gone down to Tampa and played with Brady then Baker Mayfield, but Edelman firmly said he had to go down with the S.S. Bill Belichick.

The full exchange:

Gronkowski: “I know Tom called you and was like, ‘Hey Jules, you want to come to the Buccaneers?’ And you said ‘No, I’m a Patriot for life.’ You were too cool for us, so Baker though, nah, he’s a dude’s dude. He said, ‘I ain’t too cool for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers —”

Edelman: “I was under contract, Rob.”

Gronkowski: “This is a resurgence of my career, which would have been a resurgence of your career, Jules. If you came down, you would probably still be playing with this guy if you went to the Bucs.”

Edelman: “I had to go down with the ship, buddy. I had to go down with the goddamn ship. Have you seen ‘Titanic,’ you know the old captain? You know the violin guy?”

All in all, it’s about as serious an exchange as you’d expect from a Rob Gronkowski podcast. Not only does Gronkowski ignore Edelman being legally obligated to play for the Patriots (though perhaps he could have held out for a trade), Gronkowski also leaves out that the now-38-year-old Edelman retired amid chronic knee woes. Mayfield probably wouldn’t have fixed that.

Edelman was firm about his commitment to the Patriots at the time as well, saying he’s a “one-team guy” when rumors started spreading again. That didn’t stop Brady from joking that Edelman only stayed because he was afraid of Belichick.

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