Photo: Harry How
Former New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman revealed that his longtime friend and former teammate Tom Brady not only attempted to recruit him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but also wasted little time after making his own decision to leave the Patriots.
“He hit me up the first day he signed there,” Edelman told Peyton and Eli Manning on the ManningCast version of this week's Monday Night Football broadcast, which saw Brady's Bucs defeat the New York Giants, 30-10. “He was like, ‘You want to come down?’ And I was like, ‘Uh, absolutely not.’”
Edelman also revealed Brady's surprisingly favorite phrase while providing a spot-on impression of his former quarterback and tight end Rob Gronkowski while attempting to lip-read their sideline conversation during the broadcast.
"Lot of 'babes.' Lot of 'babes.' TB's a 'babe' guy," Edelman told the Mannings while discussing Brady's use of the phrase.
Last month, Edelman roasted his longtime quarterback by sharing a photo of T.J. Detweiler, the main character on the late 1990s animatedABCseriesRecess, in reference to Brady wearing a backwards hat on his own an appearance alongside his former NFL rivals on the ManningCast.
"Tom on Manning Cast rn," Edelman tweeted, which has since gotten more than 7,000 likes as of Tuesday (October 26) afternoon.
Trolling Brady seems to be Edelman's favorite post-retirement activity, as he's gone viral multiple times for jokes directed at his longtime teammate's expense.
In August, Edelman hilariously wished Brady a happy 44th birthday by acknowledging one of the quarterback's few career lapses.
The former wide receiver shared a video on his verified Instagram account featuring an edited version of Brady's viral video showcasing the quarterback playing catch with a jugs machine, throwing two passes into the machine, which shoots them back out before dropping back and firing one last throw through the machine, causing it to fall over and spit the ball back into the air.
In Edelman's video, however, a caption of "*high five attempt*" is placed over the football, and "*teammate*" is placed over the jugs machine during Brady's first throw, before a clip of the seven-time Super Bowl champion awkwardly holding up his hand for an unreciprocated high-five from his then-Patriots teammates is spliced in.
The clip cuts back to Brady's game of catch, with the caption "*denied*" placed over the football as it sails back to him.
On the second throw, the caption "*referee*" is placed over the jugs machine and "*high five attempt*" once again over the football, followed by a clip of Brady being denied a high five from a referee during the 2020 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brady then takes a few steps back and fires off a throw with "*birthday high five*" captioned over the football on the throw that caused the machine to topple over, which is followed by a clip of Edelman aggressively giving him a high five on the sideline during their time together in New England.
Edelman captioned the Instagram post, "Will someone give my friend @tombrady a high five today? It’s his birthday. HBD bubs 🎂"
Brady had also taken playful jabs at some of his favorite former wide receiver targets, including Edelman, prior to his former teammate's birthday post.
The 44-year-old quarterback shared a video of himself throwing passes to three young boys, who he addresses as "Welker," "Edelman" and "Amendola," in reference to the recently retired receiver and fellow former Patriots teammates Wes Welker and Danny Amendola, all of whom were considered "undersized" by the average standards of the NFL wide receiver position.
Brady finished the video with a shoutout to longtime former Patriots and current Buccaneers teammate Rob Gronkowski, excitedly asking, "where you at Gronk?"
"Great to have Wes, Jules and Danny out in Montana this week! Just missing my tightest tight end @WesWelker @Edelman11 @DannyAmendola @RobGronkowski," Brady tweeted along with the video.
Both Edelman and Gronkowski responded to Brady's post, with Edelman quote-tweeting, "This feels like an attack" and Gronkowski replying, "Sorry I couldn't make it, I'm busy tightening up my end even more."
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