Recently retired and former New England Patriots star Matthew Slater was on the “Green Lights Podcast” with Chris Long and talked about his time playing with quarterback Tom Brady and the wide receiver group of his team. However, there was a funny moment where Long asked Slater on his show which player “sucked up to Tom Brady most in the receiver room,” and Slater answered Julian Edelman with no hesitation.
“I mean that one's easy that's Julian (Edelman) all the way,” Slater answered. “I mean he followed him around like a little puppy dog early in his career, and then you know would do whatever he could to endear himself to Tom. So by far and away that was Julian.”
Slater retired this season after playing a whopping 16 seasons with the Patriots He was a receiver and also made a huge impact on their special teams unit, known for being a great “gunner” and possibly one of the best to ever do it.
With all of them being teammates and friends on and off the field, Slater's answer is a humorous one, but also one that puts into perspective the relationship Brady and Edelman had on the field. That connection on the Patriots led to three Super Bowls and a massive amount of success including the receiver winning Super Bowl MVP in 2019 after they beat the Los Angeles Rams.
The relationship between Brady and Edelman
Long also brought up the fact that Brady would bring teammates on vacation with him and Slater said that the one player who “cared about that” was definitely Edelman. Slater would also bring up another former Patriots receiver in Danny Amendola and the funny arguments he and Edelman would have like which one are famous superheroes “Batman or Robin.”
“That was kind of one of those things if you get the tap on the shoulder, you're honored and you're like ‘Man, I'm just happy to be here.' I know again, I can't get on this guy enough but the one guy who really like cared about that was Edels (Edelman). I mean he was always so hyper focused on what does Tom has going on, who's with him,” Slater said. “You know Gronk was there, Dola (Danny Amendola) was there, I wasn’t there. Don't let Dola have any experience that Jules didn't have or he's going to lose his mind and just for the record, they used to argue like who's Batman, who's Robin. We'd sit in the meeting room and it'd be like who's Batman, who's Robin and I would just like to settle that debate for all time sake. Dola is clearly Batman, better looking, smoother.”
Patriots fans must feel like it is the end of an era as players such as Brady, Edelman, Amendola, head coach Bill Belichick not coming back, and now recently Slater having retired. In terms of the current iteration of New England, they look to forge a new path to success as the Patriots try to improve after going 4-13 last season.
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