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Former New England Patriots star Julian Edelman only played fantasy football earlier in his NFL career.
And when he did, he took full advantage of the knowledge he had as a member of one of the NFL’s best teams to get an edge in his fantasy league.
“I drafted like half of our lineup,” Edelman told Fox News Digital. “I would draft me and [Wes] Welker, and we had [Aaron] Hernandez at the time because I knew the gameplan, he was going to get fed the rock, I kinda had some insider trading knowledge on that.”
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New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman (11) makes a catch before a game between the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 27, 2020, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Edelman added that he “had to” have Brady in his fantasy lineup as well. He also clarified that there was no money involved in the league he was a part of.
But once the star wide receiver quit playing fantasy as an active player, he was still brutally reminded of his own role in the league’s of many Patriots fans.
“Any time you’d walk down the street in Boston or anywhere, you’d always here some, like, it wouldn’t necessarily be a gripe, but like ‘you got me 10 points in fantasy! Thanks Jules!’ or it was ‘only three catches? Come on bro!’” Edelman said, adding that he heard these fantasy-related jeers “all the time” during the football season.
Then, when Edelman retired from the NFL in 2021 and dove back into fantasy ranks, he was on the other side of the disappointment when a key player falters.
Edelman said the worst fantasy pick he’s ever made, which also caused him to “lose sleep” was selecting Joe Burrow in 2023. Fresh off a season where Burrow was an MVP candidate and one of the best fantasy players in 2022, the quarterback’s play declined in 2023 before a wrist injury ended his season. It left Edelman out to dry.
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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick celebrates with wide receiver Julian Edelman after defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)
“That one hurt me, because the year before he lit it up, and I was relying on those numbers, and I did lose some sleep over that, so I took a little sleep tab,” Edelman said.
However, Edelman said he never gave Burrow any grief for the down year, because he remembered how it felt walking down the street hearing “only six catches this week? Come on bub!”
Edelman also said that Burrow’s disappointing 2023 wouldn’t stop him from encouraging fantasy players to draft the Bengals quarterback this season.
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Tom Brady of the New England Patriots looks on with teammate wide receiver Julian Edelman before playing against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Nov. 3, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Will Newton/Getty Images)
Edelman hopes to use his knowledge and experience to help fantasy players make decisions that will prevent them from “losing sleep” with his new “Sleeper Picks” spotlighting series, in partnership with the sleeping tab brand Unison.
Edelman will offer similar knowledge to the “insider trading” he used when he played fantasy football as a member of the Patriots earlier in his NFL career.
“With my sleeper picks now I’m very sourced up with all these coaches, players and personnel departments, so these sleeper picks are going to be pretty good,” Edelman said.
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