Recently, Julian Edelman received a 2-year extension from the New England Patriots. Edelman will be earning $12 million guaranteed with an $8 million signing bonus. Edelman has finished in the top 2 in receiving for the Patriots 6 of the last 7 years.
After an outstanding performance in the Super Bowl, many Hall of Fame voters seem to believe Edelman can make it to Canton. Although it is much tougher to do so as a slot receiver, many believe his postseason experience makes up for it.
However, Edelman has several hidden stats and grades that most people do not notice about him. This article will show Edelman is a primary slot receiver that fits in New England’s scheme.
First of all, the Patriots run a unique Erhardt-Perkins offensive scheme. The Erhardt-Perkins system fits perfectly in New England because it works for colder weather cities. The scheme relies on throwing defenses off with distinct formations, motions, power runs, and short pass plays.
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels spices it up by throwing his receivers in a bunch formation against man to man coverage. This causes pick plays or crossing routes that force the defenders to fall out of position. McDaniels also loves to motion his receivers so Brady can recognize who is defending who.
Based off of this playbook, Edelman only runs a few routes each game and relies on yards after the catch.
For example, in this clip, Edelman is the inside slot receiver. He has a linebacker 6 yards off of him, and he runs a 5-yard curl. Edelman then turns outside and breaks free for 8 extra yards. Edelman does run a good route. But with a linebacker dropping deep into coverage, this is nothing more than a simple uncontested 5-yard curl.
In this play, Edelman motions to the right. Brady realizes the defender guarding him plays over the top as an off-man coverage. McDaniels’ motioning scheme allows Edelman to sneak under the wideout’s slant. The slant opens up a simple out route due to the defender playing off and the receiver setting a pick.
After these 2 clips, you notice that Edelman runs smaller routes and relies on using his speed to run after the catch. This photo below shows Edelman’s routes after the Week 16 win against the Bills. Edelman runs 4 out routes and 6 drag routes.
Edelman’s bread and butter route is the drag route. Edelman’s biggest plays and highlights come from his drag routes.
In this video, Edelman runs a great route. Edelman pushes the outside shoulder of the linebacker guarding him. Once the linebacker breaks his hips, Edelman restacks on top of him and cuts inside. He makes a sharp cut that lands him in front of the safety, and he makes the catch for a huge gain.
Edelman can even flourish when New England goes play-action.
However, if you look closely, Edelman was not the reason for being wide open. Once again, the intelligence of Brady and McDaniels pops up. Brady tucks his head and fakes the handoff. Brady then turns around and realizes the middle linebacker run commits and the other linebackers have their eyes caught in the backfield. With their eyes locked at Brady, Edelman makes a simple cut behind them for the catch.
Although the drag route is Edelman’s bread and butter, he is no superstar with this route. Edelman has his flaws most people do not notice. Everyone talks about how Edelman is a great route runner. Yet, these next few clips will show where he lacks some good route running.
Off the snap, Edelman pushes the linebacker’s hips. He does not get open, though, and ends up ending the play as an incompletion. This occurs because Edelman hops in the air when the video stops and has the red circle. His jump in the air does not confuse the defender and allows him to readjust to Edelman. Also, any wise defender would jam him and make him fall if he jumped in the air while running a route. This is a huge red flag in route running for Edelman.
The last drag play is Edelman in the slot to the right. Edelman tries to creep behind the defense before adapting and cutting in front of the linebacker. Edelman has an open frame, and Brady throws it to him. Despite the open frame though, Edelman drops the ball, and it turns to an interception.
Drops are relatively common for Edelman too. Edelman had 100 receptions to 11 drops last season. According to Pro Football Focus, he has combined for 61 dropped passes in the previous 5 seasons he played (did not play 2017). Edelman’s drop grade was a whopping 49.2, ranked 177th in NFL receiver ratings.
Edelman may drop drag routes and deeper routes, but he runs other routes too.
In the red zone, the Patriots utilize motion again. The motion gives Edelman a head start and an opportunity to come to the ball before the cornerback can make a play. Edelman then receives blocks and fights forward. Edelman is only 5’10” so he fights hard for extra yards but falls short of a touchdown.
This clip is the best route I’ve seen from Edelman. For anyone who plays Madden, this roue was similar to the Corner Strike. For anyone who does not understand that route, Edelman starts with a motion to gets inside leverage.
The inside leverage puts pressure on the corner if Edelman runs a drag or anything across the middle. Edelman uses that to his strength and attacks the inside shoulder of the corner. Edelman finishes with a hard plant on the left that still makes it look like he will go deep but breaks toward the sideline. This route was a great route and proves at the end of the day Edelman is a good route runner. The problem is he only runs a few routes to help Bradt make quick and easy reads.
This was another decent route, but it relied on the other two routes tremendously. It first relies on Gronkowski’s streak because the defenders are not lined up straight across. The defense does this so they will not be picked on a bunch play like this. However, with Edelman’s defender playing deeper than Gronk’s defender, the defender is delayed to guarding Edelman. The defender must wait until Gronkowski and his defender run through the middle until he can defend Edelman.
The outside route by Hogan also opens up Edelman’s route. Hogan pushing outside first causes the corner to follow. With the corner following Hogan, that creates more space for Edelman to make a move to the endzone. By the time the ball is released, the corner cannot make up his steps and the defender guarding Edelman is burned.
Edelman relies heavily on the Patriots offense in order to flourish. The last clip is not a bad route, but a lousy effort.
This play was not going to Edelman, but he has to help his other receivers by putting in 100% effort on this play. Without putting the effort in, the defender does not need to try and guard him but can help guard someone else. Not only does he jog and put minimal effort in, but he does not help Brady while he was pressured.
Edelman had the opportunity to put into action the scrambling drill every receiver works on with his quarterback in practice. With Brady getting pressured, Edelman could have run a comeback to open space, run a cross with Gronkowski, or go deep. Instead, Edelman does a lackluster job of running deep and watches Brady get sacked.
Final Verdict
Julian Edelman is not a Hall of Fame receiver. He is not even a top-5 slot receiver in the NFL. Edelman was ranked the 37th best wide receiver by Pro Football Focus and 6th best slot receiver. Additionally, Football Outsiders gave Edelman a 1.7% DVOA (Defense Value over Adjusted), ranked 42nd out of all receivers. Overall, Edelman is a reliable slot receiver for one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He’s also greatly overrated.