Julian Edelman Provides Update On DeSean Jackson Conversation, Explains Why He Reached Out
BOSTON (CBS) -- Julian Edelman takes his job as a football player quite seriously, but this offseason, he took on a much more important matter.
That situation arose when Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson shared a quote that was incorrectly attributed to Adolf Hitler on his social media page.
Edelman posted a video at the time, in which he reached out to the fellow veteran wide receiver and offered to help educate Jackson on anti-Semitism. The next day, Edelman said that he had spoken to Jackson.
Now a month later, Edelman was asked for an update on that conversation. The 34-year-old Edelman said it went well, and he shared why he felt compelled to reach out.
"That conversation happened a while back and we've stayed in touch. I don't want to get too involved because I want to keep it between us," Edelman said. "But I think it was a healthy conversation where, playing in this football league, we're all in a fraternity. We're all -- there's a brotherhood when you play in the National Football League. And when you see something as it went down with DeSean, first off, I don't know him that well. We've communicated here and there, but I knew he didn't mean what he meant, just from mutual friends we've had and et cetera. So I wanted to go out and take a stance to try to help him get through what he had to get to. Because we've all had some sort of adverse situation that we've had to deal with. I just wanted to go out and do what I could to not only show that I support my community but also show that I'm here to help people in our league, because we're all one."
Edelman -- who suggested that he and Jackson visit The Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington D.C. -- said that such a trip will have to wait until after the season.
"We're planning on doing something postseason, when the regulations of COVID and all this stuff going on with those regulations clear up," Edelman said. "Right now my mind's on football. That was then, and those are very important issues, but right now I'm on a training camp mindset. And my focus is on trying to prepare myself mentally, physically and emotionally for the upcoming year. So that's where we're at."
