Notably absent from the entire 2017 NFL season for the New England Patriots was veteran wide receiver Julian Edelman due to an ACL tear that he suffered last August. Since then, he has been making a steady recovery from the injury over the last several months by continuing to ramp his rehab workload.

In fact, Edelman has remained quite optimistic about his progress that even led to him to declare that he could have played in Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles had he been eligible to take the field. The 31-year-old has provided another update on Wednesday afternoon regarding his health at this point in the recovery via social media that displayed him going throw a drill involving running with cords.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfcQez6BVcV/?taken-by=edelman11

Edelman appears on track to be ready well ahead of the 2018 NFL season with eyes toward partaking in training camp with the Patriots during the offseason barring any setback. His continued progress in his rehab from injury should create a lot of optimism around the Patriots that he can step back in as a major contributor to the offensive game plan.

Prior to the injury, Edelman was coming off yet another highly productive campaign where he recorded 98 catches for a career-high 1,106 receiving yards with three touchdowns. He had also been a huge factor in New England's run to Super Bowl LI win hauling in 21 catches for 346 receiving yards with a touchdown over three playoff games.

Julian Edelman, Tom Brady
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Alongside All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski, Edelman has been one of Tom Brady's go-to targets in the passing game over the last several years. He has been one of their most productive receivers racking up more than 90 catches for 970 receiving yards in three out of the last four campaigns. However, injuries have played a part in preventing him from being a bigger contributor as he has missed a sizeable chunk of playing time in two out of the last three years.

Nonetheless, his return to the field will provide the Patriots with another dependable receiving threat in their quest in 2018 to make a fourth Super Bowl appearance in the last five seasons.