New England Patriots: Julian Edelman’s legacy goes far beyond football

During his twelve years as a member of the New England Patriots, Julian Edelman produced countless fine moments on the football field.

From his famous touchdown pass to Danny Amendola against the Ravens during the 2014 playoffs to his crazy game-changing catch in Super Bowl LI to his MVP performance in Super Bowl LIII, Edelman—who announced his retirement from the NFL earlier this month—will go down as one of the game’s most clutch performers of all time.

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However, Edelman’s finest moment as a member of the New England Patriots didn’t come on the football field. In fact, it came during a time when there wasn’t even football—or any other major American sport, due to the COVID 19 pandemic—being played.

New England Patriots wide receiver, Julian Edelman’s finest moment

No, Edelman’s finest moment as a New England Patriot came last summer, after Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Desean Jackson shared an antisemitic post on Instagram.

Instead of bashing Jackson for his inappropriate post, Edelman—who was one of the NFL’s few Jewish players—responded to Jackson in the form of a video on social media, inviting him to the Holocaust Museum.

"“I am proud of my Jewish heritage, and for me, it is not just about religion. It’s about community and culture as well,” Edelman stated in the video.“I am unusual because I didn’t identify as Jewish until later in my life. Whenever I encountered hatred, it never really felt like it was aimed at me. It was only after I was part of this community that I learned how destructive hate is. Anti-Semitism is one of the oldest forms of hatred. It’s rooted in ignorance and fear.”“I don’t want to distract from how important the Black Lives Matter movement is, and how we need to stay behind it. I think the Black and Jewish communities have a lot of similarities,” he added.“One unfortunate similarity is that they are both attacked by the ignorant and the hateful. It’s really hard to see the challenges a community can face when you’re not part of it. So what we need to do is, we need to listen. We need to learn. We need to act. We need to have these uncomfortable conversations if we’re going to have real change.”"

With that video, Edelman didn’t just speak on behalf of himself. He spoke on behalf of Jews across New England and all of America.

While Jews have largely been extremely successful in 21st century America, one of the few industries that the Jewish people have struggled to break into is professional sports. In particular, the NFL has barely any Jewish players, let alone stars.

As an average-sized Jewish kid who was mediocre (at best) at sports growing up in the Boston area, Edelman represented the ultimate dream to me. To see a 5’10”, 198-pound Jewish guy—who had zero Power Five scholarship offers coming out of high school, played quarterback at Kent State, and was drafted in the seventh round—was truly an inspiration.

To grow up watching a guy who looked relatively like me in stature, and came from a background similar to mine, become one of the best receivers in the NFL helped inspire me to take on my own challenges. It was because of players like Edelman that I still dreamed of becoming a professional athlete long after I knew that it wasn’t realistic.

Because of guys who were counted out again and again—first by college recruiters, and then by NFL scouts. Guys who were told that they weren’t big enough, or strong enough, or tall enough, or didn’t come from a background that professional athletes typically come from.

Edelman was all of those things. And he embraced it. He never backed down from a challenge just because someone else told him that he wasn’t good enough.

At the end of the day, THAT is Julian Edelman’s biggest legacy.