For the life of me, I'll never understand why the Patriots love wide receiver Julian Edelman so much. Yes, he's versatile (slot receiver, punt returner, defensive back) and can play a bunch of positions if he has to but what does that matter when he can't stay on the field healthy?
It looked like he might be gone in free agency to the Giants but today New England brought him back on a one-year deal. In four seasons, he's never appeared in all 16 regular season games (11, 15, 13, 9) so I don't get why they continue to pretend like he'll suddenly be immune to all the injuries he normally picks up.
He was having somewhat of a breakout year (for him at least) last season with 21 catches for 235 yards, he also returned 17 punts for 263 yards and one touchdown plus he carried the ball four times for 45 yards. Predictably, his season was over in Week 13 (after 9 games mind you) with a broken foot. For what it's worth, he's the only guy in the NFL with a punt return for a TD the last three seasons.
What interests me way more is that they finally signed former Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to a one-year offer sheet. Last year in Pittsburgh (his third season in the NFL), he set career-highs in catches (44) and yards (626). He's small but a great route runner and he appeared in all 16 regular season games so if they get him, it's not hard projecting him to become Brandon Lloyd 2.0 (with more potential). The Steelers have five days to match or else the Pats will give them a third-round pick in this year's NFL Draft.
UPDATE 4/14: The Steelers matched the offer for Sanders (1 year, $2.5 million) so he's staying in Pittsburgh. In this case, being cheap and trying to outsmart everyone left the Patriots with nothing. Ugh, if they had just spent a little more they could have gotten a quality wide receiver that they desperately need.
UPDATE 4/16: The Pats resigned tight end Michael Hoomanawanui to a one-year tender.
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