During Friday night's preseason game between the New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions, Julian Edelman suffered what the team believes is a torn ACL, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. Edelman will undergo an MRI on Saturday to confirm, but the fear right now is that Tom Brady's righthand man is out for the year.
The injury occurred during the first quarter after his third catch of the night. As you can see below, it was a non-contact injury, which is often a sign of something serious when it pertains to the knee.
Julian @Edelman11 left the #NEvsDET game after suffering a knee injury on this play: #NFL #Patriots pic.twitter.com/IIOJd04L4m
— Chat Sports (@ChatSports) August 26, 2017
It was immediately clear that something was wrong with Edelman. His knee buckled and went limp as he fell to the turf, and after the play, he struggled to the sideline before the Patriots put him on a cart back to the locker room.
New England has no shortage of weapons at their disposal on the offensive side of the ball, but losing Edelman for the season would still be a huge blow. His contributions over the last few seasons have factored greatly into the Patriots winning both Super Bowl XLIX and Super Bowl LI. In 2016, the Kent State product racked up 1,106 yards through the air on 98 receptions while scoring three touchdowns.
For the time being, the Patriots and their fans are hoping that the initial diagnosis turns out to be incorrect. The results tomorrow will either confirm that Edelman does indeed have a torn ACL, or hopefully they retract that determination.