Patriots receiver Julian Edelman visits Fountain Valley
New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman had a good response to his quarterback on Twitter on Monday.
Quarterback Tom Brady made his first tweet on April Fool’s Day, and it announced that he was retiring. Edelman responded by posting a GIF of the Michael Scott character from “The Office,” saying, “Don’t you dare.”
Edelman isn’t going anywhere. A day later, the Super Bowl LIII MVP came to the United Sports Brands office in Fountain Valley for a celebration.
“[Brady] didn’t [fool] me,” Edelman said. “I know him like the back of my hand, that guy. He’s trying to be witty, so I had to out-wit him. That’s kind of what I have to do on a daily basis to make him feel normal. It was funny, it was cool, but knowing him and the competitor he is, I knew it wasn’t [true]. You know, the date, there’s always something going down on that day.”
Edelman is a three-time Super Bowl champion. He caught 10 passes for 141 yards as the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3 in Atlanta.
Edelman is a longtime user of Cutters gloves, since he was at Kent State, and United Sports Brands is the corporate parent of Cutters. He told Tuesday’s crowd of a couple hundred people that he was grateful for his opportunity.
“To get to be able to [win the Super Bowl] three times, it’s an absolute blessing and I’m very fortunate,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work, determination and sacrifice to put yourself in a position to get that opportunity. It was pretty cool to get the MVP, but more importantly, it was just cool to get that win.”
Edelman is from the Bay Area and he told the crowd that his favorite NFL team, besides the Patriots, is probably the 49ers.
It’s not the Rams, he said good-naturedly, the team that the Patriots beat in the most recent Super Bowl win. Edelman said that victory was especially meaningful.
“Coming off the knee [injury] and coming off adversity that I had to deal with, it obviously sweetened the pot a little,” Edelman said. “Being the last one with [tight end Rob Gronkowski, who announced his retirement following the season], in hindsight now, that will be something that I’ll always remember, and just the ebbs and flows of the season. Everyone picked everyone else but us the whole year … it made it pretty sweet. They’re like children — you don’t love any one more than the others — but it definitely felt great to have that.”
Edelman was introduced by United Sports Brands CEO Michael Magerman. Fountain Valley Mayor Steve Nagel presented him with a certificate of achievement.
Several kids who train at Real Speed, a sports and fitness academy in Anaheim, came to meet Edelman. One of them was Jordan Castro, a 15-year-old from Westminster who also plays receiver and took a selfie with Edelman.
“I mean, it’s cool because he’s a Super Bowl MVP and stuff,” Castro said. “I look up to him.”
Edelman said it’s important to ignore the noise and be confident in yourself. That has served him well in a 10-year NFL career, all with the Patriots.
“Everyone’s judged so crazily now, with all of the haters on the social media platforms,” Edelman said. “If you’re confident in your ability and you’re able to ignore the noise and really just focus on making yourself better, I would say that’s ultimately the best advice that I’ve been given through my father and through guys like my agents.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
