Former New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edleman has dropped a further hint about a potential return to the NFL in a podcast appearance.

There were plenty of people who can take a fair amount of credit for the New England Patriots dynasty years, both in the 2000s and the 2010s. Obviously the likes of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will get a lot of credit for the creation and continued domination that they went through, but there were plenty of other rotating characters that also played their part in turning them into a powerhouse.

Whilst there are some who like Ty Law and Richard Seymour who are already in the Hall of Fame, or Rob Gronkowski who is more than likely going to be making the trip to Canton someday as well, you still need to go a little deeper to find some of the key parts of the Patriots story.

And there can be no doubt that when it comes to the second age of the Patriots' dominance over the NFL, there was arguably no bigger ‘little guy’ than Julian Edelman after what he brought to the table for them. Standing at 5’10, Edelman was far from a physically imposing receiver, but the impact he made on the side goes certainly was colossal.

Little guy, big impact

Edelman put up over 6,800 yards and 36 touchdowns, whilst also making an impact in the return game with over 2,600 yards on kickoffs and punts, but it was in the big moments that he really excelled himself. 

There’s arguably no better example than the ridiculous catch he in Super Bowl LI to help them get the game-tying touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons, before putting up 141 yards on 10 catches to win MVP of Super Bowl LIII:

Now 36, Edelman has been out of the league since he announced his retirement at the end of the 2021 season, but, much like Brady, it looks as if he could be about to make a comeback to the league after some time away.

What has he said? 

Speaking on the Green Light podcast with former Patriots receiver Chris Hogan (quoted by Patriots Wire), Edelman talked about how his body feels after time away from the game and that a return could well be on the cards for him after having some time to recover:

“I feel extremely better than I did the last year-and-a-half of my career. I don’t know if it’s fool’s gold just because I haven’t been compouding loadage. That’s why you get interested. So you kick it up a little bit here and there and you analyze. You don’t make decisions. And that’s what I’m doing.”

After the actions of his former teammates Brady and Gronkowski to retire and then unretire, it certainly wouldn’t be a major shock to see him come back. Although the only question is, if he does indeed make a return, whether or not he’d want to play for the Patriots once more, or give Brady a hand with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or perhaps try something new for a change.