Julian Edelman Won't Be Retiring This Offseason: 'We're Not There Yet'
BOSTON (CBS) -- There have been some rumblings that Julian Edelman may be ready to call it a career. But the Patriots wide receiver said that he's "not there yet" during an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast.
Edelman is taking some time away from football after a difficult 2020 season, spending his free time with his young daughter and doing the dad things he can't do during the football season. While he's loving the dad life, he added that he is working on an offseason plan and intends to keep playing in 2021.
The retirement talk popped up when the hosts and Edelman began talking about Philip Rivers' retirement earlier this week. They attempted to get Edelman to announce his own retirement, but Edelman played coy with the hosts.
"I don't know, we're not there yet," said Edelman. "This whole year was so jacked up. It was so long, I just need to decompress for a little bit.
"I'm out in L.A. right now, taking my kid to school and picking her up, doing the kind of things you don't get to do during the season, and I'm enjoying that right now," he added.
A knee injury limited Edelman to just six games in 2020. He said that he is "getting there" in his recovery.
"It was a rough year when it came to just my physicality and how I felt," he said. "It's tough, but this is the time where you sit and you self-reflect. You self-evaluate and you self-scout yourself through all last year. You're really go in and try to develop a formula and try to develop a game plan for how you're going to attack the offseason. That's the process I'm in right now."
Edelman is entering the final year of his contract with the Patriots, which carries a cap hit of over $6.6 million. Time will tell if he remains in New England, but he will be playing football in 2021.