Patriots Hall of Fame Induction of Julian Edelman and Bill Parcells

Patriots Hall of Fame Induction of Julian Edelman and Bill Parcells

remind me of that. So, what do you think? Should we do this thing? Without a doubt. I’m ready. It’s gorgeous. Let’s do some football today. We welcome you to the 2025 Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony. My name is John Rook. It’s been my privilege to have been the voice of Gillette Stadium since well before coach Parcels even got here. But we’re going to celebrate his career, Julian Edelman’s career, and the careers of everyone along the way for your six time Super Bowl champion, New England Patriots. Today, we gathered to honor not just one, but two new members joining the Patriots Hall of Fame. two legends, one of course who proud the sidelines, one that dominated out of the slot receiver positioned you so effectively during the Patriots dynasty. But before we kick off the program today, we’d be remissed if we didn’t take just a bit of moment, bit of time to remember all the former Patriots who have passed away this year, including Len St. Gan, who played for the Boston and New England Patriots, tight end Don Aselbeck, and Super Bowl 36 champion Matt Stevens. If you would please honor them for a moment with a moment of silence. Thank you. You know, back in 1993, the Patriots are coming off four seasons in which they won a total of 14 games, including a two and 14 season in 1992. Yep, I remember that. But on January the 21st of 1993, something else I also remember very well because I was out here freezing, standing in line, waiting for tickets along with many of you. Two-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Parcels arrived in New England and brought optimism back to our region. Four years later, the Patriots were AFC champions and playing in the Super Bowl. Julian Edelman arrived in Foxboro in 2009 as an undersized college quarterback drafted in the seventh round out of Kent State. He was just hoping to make the team. He was willing to play any role to do so. Not only did he make the team, he made it here today to the Hall of Fame by successfully filling any and every role that came along his way. These two men helped provide all of us with so many amazing memories. So today, it’s our turn to make this moment memorable for them and their families. Before introducing the alumni in attendance here today, we’d like to thank RTX for the amazing partnership with the hall that dates back to 2008. With the help of RTX, the hall has built a STEM education program that hosts more than 20,000 field trip visitors annually. So, thank you to RTX for that championship partnership. And speaking of championships, we now present six of our very best friends, our six Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies. [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Today we are honored. honored to welcome back more than 50 Patriot alumni players. Collectively, they represent more than 280 years of Patriot service spanning six decades. The alumni roster is listed on the screen surrounding you here. Please provide all of these gentlemen a warm welcome back home to Foxboro as they make their way to their seats. Heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] up [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] Isn’t it great to see these guys back again? The years are just peeling back, aren’t they? Also, today we welcome back seven Patriot Hall of Famers representing first representing his father, Patriots Hall of Fame broadcaster Gil Santos. Let’s please welcome back Mark Santos. Mark, where are you? [Music] Leading us off. This Hall of Famer set a franchise record with 36 career interceptions, later tied by fellow Hall of Famer Ty Law. He played 13 seasons from 1977 to 1989 and holds the franchise record for consecutive starts with 147. He is a member of the Patriots 1970s and 1980s all decade teams and the 2017 Patriots Hall of Fame inductee. Please welcome back Raymond Clayborn. [Music] [Applause] [Music] He spent 10 season with the Patriots and tied Raymond Claybourne for the team record with 36 career interceptions, including a franchise best six that were returned for touchdowns. He was a four-time Pro Bowler as a Patriot, a three-time Super Bowl champion. He was inducted into the Patriot Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming and congratulating the one and only Tai L. [Applause] [Music] He was the first draft pick selected under the ownership of Robert Craft. He was one of the cornerstones of the team’s success in winning three Super Bowls. He owns the NFL record with 16 postseason sacks and set the NFL mark for most sacks in a postseason game with four and a half. Please welcome 2015 Patriot Hall of Fame inductee Willie Mc [Applause] [Music] His [Music] [Applause] [Music] 19.2 yd average per reception is the best in NFL history among players with 500 or more receptions. He played 13 seasons in New England from 1977 to 1989. His 10,352 receiving yards are the most in team history. He was named to the Patriots 50th anniversary team in 2009. Please welcome 2007 Patriot Hall of Fame inductee Stanley Morgan. [Applause] [Music] He was a fixture who spent 34 seasons on the Patriots sideline while coaching along six different head coaches. He coached in 48 of the team’s 59 playoff games, including 10 of the franchises NFL high 11 Super Bowl appearances and five of the Patriots six Super Bowl championships. Please welcome 2023 Patriot Hall of Fame inductee Dante Scaria. [Applause] [Music] This guy was as feared by opponents as anyone. One of the greatest linebackers to ever play the game. He’s the franchise record holder with 100 career sacks. He holds the team record for most sacks in a season with 18 and a half in 1984 and his 35 sacks by a linebacker over a two-year span remains an NFL record. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Please welcome Patriot and Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Tippet. [Music] This player joined the Patriots as a free agent in 2001 and went on to become a star contributor for three Super Bowl championship teams. He was named to the Patriots 2000 all decade team and the 50th anniversary team. He is currently in his first season as Patriot head coach. Welcome 2023 Patriot Hall of Fame member Mike. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] All right, time to buckle up. Now, it’s my great pleasure to introduce this afternoon’s honores. If you would please turn your attention to all of our TV monitors and screens for the highlights of a Patriot coach that brought credibility back to the franchise. [Music] Patriots owner Robert Craft announced the selection of former Patriots head coach Bill Parcels for induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2025. In 1993, Parcels arrived in New England as the new head football coach with two Super Bowl rings on his resume and the determination to turn the franchise around on his radar. His leadership was a message to football fans everywhere. We stop him right here. We’re going to have time. Oh, when Bill Parcels first got here, uh, you knew that this guy had a resume. I mean, it’s Bill Parcels for God’s sakes. Plus, it’s a new sheriff in town. He also told you he was the new sheriff in town. He made football important. We knew that we were going to be a relevant National Football League team. Within the first year, the Patriots showed improvement. And by year two, Parcels had led them to 10 wins and the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. But it wouldn’t stop there. Just two years later, the Patriots would be crowned AFC champs, qualifying for their second Super Bowl in franchise history. getting down. Fumble Patriots have it. It’s picked up by Yoda Smith. The most impressive thing for me with Parcels was 53 different guys of 53 different walks of life. He knew how to push the buttons on each and every one of them. And just being prepared like the stuff we practiced on Thursdays and Fridays, situational football cuz when it came up in the game, oh, we saw that on Thursday and Friday. So, we were good. That was covered. With his unwavering personality and intensity, Parcels helped bring the Patriots back to life. [Music] Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming 2025 Patriots Hall of Fame inductee, Bill Parcels. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] Okay, if you’ll turn your attention back to the television monitors for highlights of another 2025 Patriots Hall of Fame inductee, one known for taking big hits and also making big plays [Applause] with the 232nd pick. New England has selected Julian Edelman, wide receiver from Kent State. Patriots fans were introduced to seventh round draft pick Julian Edelman on an August night in 2009. It was a night to remember for both fans and Edman might take it the distance. No flags that we see and rookie Julian Edelman’s in the end zone. Edelman’s Patriots career was slow to develop. Yet he still managed three punt returns for touchdowns in his first four seasons. Ring it up. Touchdown, Julian Edman. Woo! That was pretty. His versatility became evident in his third season when injuries pressed Julian into a defensive back role. He played regular staffs in all three phases, offense, defense, and special teams. It all clicked for Julian in the 2013 season as he became more of a focal point on offense. Into the end zone, wide open touchdown to Edelman, his second of the day. Playing at all 16 games and reaching 1,000 yds receiving for the first time in his career. And he runs it past the five. He drives to the end zone. Touchdown and the lead. the guy that I hated practicing against because every single day he brought a level of toughness, a level of skill, understanding of the offense, and would just try to get after you. That would that’s Julian Edelman. In 2014, on the way to advancing to Super Bowl 49, former college quarterback dusted off his passing skills to change the momentum in the divisional round. Gentleman motions out for the quick throw for Julian setting up a screen. He’s going to look to throw downfield. Heala wide open. Makes the catch with the 18 in stride. He’s gone. Touchdown Patriots. The roof’s off to the backyard. It was soon apparent that the postseason was Edelman’s time to shine. Nine tough catches, including the gamewinner in Super Bowl 49. Throws for Edman. Touchdown Patriots. Plus one of the most acrobatic catches in Super Bowl history against Atlanta. Stands in throws down the for Julian diving for it. Did he make the catch? I caught it. I caught it. The receivers’s hand is under the ball. The ball never hits the ground. Capped off with an MVP winning performance leading the Patriots to their sixth Super Bowl title. All told, the kid from Kent State ranks third in all time playoff receptions behind Jerry Rice and Travis Kelce. Out of the mix, the catch on the run. Cuts it right. Tripped up, but he stays at his feet. Angling to the 40 and he’s hammered down from behind. Are you? I am. Yes. When did he show up the most? In the playoffs. When it was time and it mattered the most and the best players had to be their best, you could count on Edelman open, making catches, breaking tackles, being a guy that helped bring championships back to Foxboro. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming 2025 Patriot Hall of Fame inductee Julian Edman. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] You know, when he bought the New England Patriots back in 1994, he vowed to help bring a championship home to all of us. Under his ownership, Patriots have qualified for the playoffs 22 times, won 19 division titles, 10 AFC championships, and Uh-huh. six Super Bowls. He has also turned Gillette Stadium into one of the world’s premier sports and concert venues. It’s my pleasure to introduce the chairman and CEO of the New England Patriots, Mr. Robert Craft. [Applause] Welcome everyone. And I’ll say when we built the Patriots Hall of Fame, our vision was clear to create a lasting tribute to the legends who made this franchise. Coaches and players whose impact transcended the field. a place where generation of Patriot fans could come to celebrate greatness. To today we honor two such great icons, Bill Parcels and Julian Edelman. Let me begin with the man who helped lay the very foundation of what the New England Patriots would become. In 1993, Bill Parcels stepped into a franchise in turmoil and gave it something desperately needed. Identity, structure, and hope. He didn’t just arrive in Foxboro, he stormed it. Parcels was old school, tough, uncompromising, a head coach with an iron fist, which by the way featured two Super Bowl rings. Those rings gave him instant credibility, not just in the locker room, but with the media and across all our fandom. He was a Jersey guy through and through with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue. His sideline fire and his ability to challenge and motivate players, often with biting humor became legendary. He knew how to push buttons and he loved to bust chops. In his first season, he took the two and4 team and closed the year with a four-ame win streak, capped by a dramatic overtime victory against the Dolphins. It was the most excitement Patriot fans had felt in nearly a decade. That momentum and the belief he inspired was a ra major reason I made the decision to keep the team here in New England and preventing it from moving to St. Louis. I paid what was then the highest price ever for any sports professional team anywhere in the world. And in our first year together, Bill led the team a season exciting sevengame win streak at the end and our first playoff win in eight years. In our next three seasons together, he took us to the playoffs twice and delivered two firsttime home playoff game wins and we won the AFC Championship and went to the Super Bowl. Bill made the players believe. He made the fans believe. And he made me believe. Bill built a culture. He mentored players and coaches who would go on to shape the NFL. He laid the groundwork for the dynasty that followed, guiding future Patriot Hall of Famers and instilling the values that became our identity. Over the years, we’ve both mellowed. We’ve shared laughs, wrapped stories, swapped stories, and reflected on the foundation we built together. And today, I want to say thank you, Bill. Thank you for the fire. Thank you for the fight. Thank you for the foundation. And thank you for the many contributions you made to this franchise. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you one of the greatest head coaches of all time, Coach Bill Parcels. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Obviously, I am very humbled and honored. ed by this award and thank Robert very much and the Patriot family. You know, this is kind of melancholy for me in a couple of ways. And I want to tell you why. Because I don’t know whether all the fans here know or but this is where I started my professional football career. And uh 1980, my first year in football. I had aspired to be a pro coach for my last five or six years in college. I didn’t know whether I was going to get the opportunity, but it came here. I’m an East Coast guy. I loved it. And came up and I got to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I couldn’t have come to a better place. [Music] And I want to tell you why. We in those days, I have to tell you, we had training camp down there at Smithfield College. No, Bryant College, Smithfield, Rhode Island. And I remember going down there and walking on the field from my first practice and I walked out there about 20 minutes early and I looked down there on my lapel on my jacket and I was giving myself a pep talk and I said, “You know, Parcels, we’re really doing this now and we’re going to find out what you got when get when we get started.” And that was the beginning. And we had a great collection of coaches, some of the great names in pro football. Gino Capetti, you all know, Raymond Barry, Jim Ringo. It was great. It really was. They helped me with that. And there were two other men here at the time that probably had more influence on me than any other single people in pro football. One of them was the then general manager, his name was Bucko Kilroy, and the other was the personnel director, and his name was Mike Holc. I didn’t know Bucko when I came here, but I knew Mike from slightly from interaction in the college ranks. And I don’t know why they did this, but they befriended me. I really don’t know why. Here I am just a new guy, college coach coming in here trying to keep up with the football and the systems and the new personnel and everything. and they’re taking me aside during the course of that entire year and they taught me every single aspect of personnel acquisition in the NFL and they taught me a draft system. They taught me evaluation system. They taught me the the the critical factors for every position, every player. They taught me all the trade mechanisms and and they insisted I learn it and occasionally they would put a test on my desk. It would have 10 questions and I had to answer them or they’d put two guys names down and I had to write reports to them. And when the test came back, if I had an answer wrong, it had a red check on it like I was in fourth grade again. But it was invaluable. The other thing that existed down there, I just saw some of these guys here today was the visuals of what pro players are supposed to look like. They remember ladies and gentlemen, this my first experience, so I’m going out there. Well, these visuals that I’m going to recite to you were the things that I used as comparisons for all future acquisitions. Now, we had two corners. One of them was here tonight, Ray Clayurn and Mike Ames. Now, I I’m going to tell you, those guys would be stars in the NFL today. They would. Every time I was looking at a corner, I was in on film or wherever I was evaluating them. I’m comparing them to Clay Burn and Haynes. Then we had prototype linemen John Hannah, Pete Brock. Every time I look at offensive linemen, I’m comparing him to Brock. Prototype tight ends Russ Francis and Don Hasselbeck. first of the big block speed down the field receiving tight ends. We had two of them here. So those were my points of comparison and it I took them with me wherever I went and I followed through all the way with that. So this place has a place in my heart. It always will. We we sometimes reflect on things and you wish you would have done things a little differently. Well, when I come back here and I see this, I wish I would have done things a little differently. But as we got going, as we got going, we stabilized the quarterback a little bit with Drew. We started making some picks, started getting better quality players, got in a couple playoff games, we won a little something, and finally the New England Patriots were competitive. So I want to thank namely all the players that were involved in that because it was a real grind ladies and gentlemen. It was a real grind physically and it was a real grind mentally and they withtood it and profited from it. The other thing when Robert came now we got the resources to compete too. So now we were able to do those things that we hadn’t been able to do before. And so that’s what kind of made it and got it going. And I just want to say thank you to the coaches that I had who worked hard. And I’m remissed. I didn’t mention her early. I wanted to my personal assistant Kathleen O’Neal. I know she’s somewhere. I just don’t know where she is. But, you know, she wasn’t there for a lot of dinners at home with her husband. She she was she was banging it out with us uh during the week. And then the other woman I wanted to mention, longtime friend of mine, this woman has devoted her entire working life to this franchise. Her name is Nancy Meyer. And I want to tell you, she she is a true true patriot. I want to congratulate Julian. I told you I wish I could have got my hands on you, buddy. We had some fun. So, I say thank you. I’m humble and I’m honored and I appreciate everything you guys have done. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Coach, thank you so much. It’s really great to see you. Thank you for being with us. Congratulations. At this time, please give a warm welcome as I welcome to the stage and to our interview chairs, Willie McInness, Ted Johnson, Dantes Carneckia with the radio voice of the Patriots, Bob Sosce, and Coach Parcels. [Applause] [Music] a little bit. Yes, sir. I know. I know. Thank you, John. And thank you, everyone. We have with us two of the building blocks defensively from those Parcels years. of course, Dante Scarncia, whose career spans so many head coaches and so much success for this franchise and the newly enshrined head coach in the Hall of Fame, coach Bill Parcels. And Bill, you mentioned getting Drew number one pick overall when you took over. The team had been the worst in the league. You started getting players like these guys, good ones. How did you get them to believe? You know, I I don’t know that there’s any single mechanism that you use to do that. You just got to be yourself and you’ve got to gain their trust. If you gain their trust, they believe in what you’re trying to do. They’re trying to win. I mean, they want to win. It’s in their best interest that they that they do that. So, you know, just get them to gain your trust and tell them what to do. Sometimes you got to make them do it. Hey, Dante, you had coached here with a couple of other head coaches before Bill’s arrival. What did you make of Bill Parcels when he came to Foxboro? Well, like a lot of us, we all saw him on TV when he was uh prowling the sidelines with the Giants and uh you you always got the impression like no one’s safe on that sideline with this guy. Okay? And it didn’t matter who they were. In fact, the better players they were like Sims, like Carson, like LT, like Bavaro, the the better player you were, the more he went after you. Okay? And it all came down with him to expectation levels. And he said that to our team one day, and I’ll it’s a life lesson, and if I have a minute, I’m just going to share it with all you. He got on a whiteboard with a black felt pen and in big letters wrote one word, conflict. And I was sitting in the back of the room saying, “Oh man, this is going to be good.” And so he here’s what he said. He goes, “Fellas, conflict is a byproduct of one of two things. You lie to me or you fail to meet my expectations, we’re going to be in conflict.” But wait a minute, this shows the next thing he said shows you the wisdom of this guy. He said it works both ways. If I lie to you or I fail to meet your expectations, then you have a right to be in conflict with me. And if you think about that, what an amazing way to have relationships with people. don’t lie and do everything you can to meet their expectations. And that’s what he strove to do, strived to do with all the team and all the players he ever coached. And coach, that’s a life lesson. I’ve never forgotten it. I taught it to my kids, my grandkids, and every player I coached after you left. Would you teach it to beginners? Well, well, let’s pick up on that right there, Willie. You come in a fourth pick overall in the draft from Southern California. You come to New England. I don’t know if you ever fell in conflict with Coach Parcels, but what do you what do you think of those words and how much do they resonate with you all these years later? I think they resonate uh not only with me, but just his style, his personality, and throughout the team. And you you ask a question, how did we buy in? Well, it was it was tough love and everybody who who’ve either coached or played under Parcels will tell you it was tough love and he kicked our ass. He did. And I was comfortable with it because that’s the environment I had come from. But the way he related to every single player and the way he treated every single player was fair. It didn’t matter if you was the first pick or you was an undrafted free agent. Everybody was treated the same. and everybody had the same respect and everybody was held accountable. So, I think when you when when you’re drafted, I always say he gave birth to my career and taught me what football was really about because it was tough, it was physical, it was mental, it was being held accountable, you got to have thick skin, couldn’t be thin skin is football, but he taught you the game in a tough loving manner. And I think that’s something that I carried from the first my first year. um all the way throughout my career. This is the way football is supposed to be and this is the way it’s supposed to be taught and this is the way it’s supposed to be played. Daddy, you came here from Colorado right after Tai Law and Curtis Martin were picked in the same draft. How much will you attest to what Willie just said and how much does that tough love continue in a lot of ways in your life and help shape you today? Absolutely. No, that Willy’s Willy’s dead on when he says that that was coached to a tea. Um, tough but fair. Always always very very fair. And what I appreciated about coach Parcels and not every coach is wired this way, but this is a style that I I really uh resonated with and and and just really uh connected with and that was uh the fact that coach Parcels had an emotional investment in seeing his guys do well. you know, if there was a term that people used back then called, you know, you a parcels guy and it was uh from his time at with New York and you wanted to be a a parcels guy and that was kind of your your uh that was what motivated you as a player when you were coached by by coach Parcels and so you really just didn’t want to let him down because he spent time with you. We used to we used to practice about an 8-minute drive from here. Uh and it there were some fields next to an old abandoned mental state uh hospital, right? Yeah. And so it was uh it was a short drive from the stadium. We had to go to practice every day obviously and and coach Parcels was always buming rides off of people especially to get back to the stadium. And so you were you always felt lucky if you ever had the opportunity to get asked for a ride back to the stadium from coach Parcels for that six minutes you got his undivided attention and he would connect with you uh on a level that uh let’s face it in pro sports not every coach did but he took the time to do that with with his guys and and I always uh always appreciated and love that about him. He was uh uh just his way of connecting with players was unmatched from any coach I’ve ever seen. And I I’ll tell you what, it was he goes on to coach for another team. Whenever you played those teams, you wanted to play a great game because you wanted to show coach that uh he made the right decision in drafting you. So I I sign off on everything Willie said, tough love, but fair and always had an emotional investment in his in seeing his guys do well and that uh me been a lot to us. Coach, what does that mean to you? What does that mean to you when you hear your former players like this? And I know there’s so many out there for all the teams you coach. You know, just just seeing know I haven’t seen these players in a long time. I’m getting a little older. You never know whether you’re going to see them or not. So, it’s just an appreciation to hear their words because I haven’t heard those before from them. It means a lot to me. I’m honored. And just get to the quarterback, I guess. One quick one for the rest of you guys. Dante, how did Bill make you a better coach? Uh, he, you know, again, accountability, the value of hard work, uh, trying to meet his expectation levels that he had for all of us. And um I will be forever grateful to have had the opportunity to coach with this guy for this guy for four years. Daddy Willie, as much as you can recall given the audience today, favorite story of uh coach Parcels and you corrections on the sideline? I was I was hoping you would ask, Bob. All right, this is my get ready coach. Uh Willie Mack, you’ll remember this. Uh a lot of people might forget this game, but there was a game that we played. It was the last regular season game in 1996. We played the New York Giants in the Medallands and we were 10 and five going into this last game. Now, we had already clinched a uh a birth in the playoffs that year. We were a wild card team at that point, but we had a chance if we beat the Giants in that last regular season game to get a by-week going into the playoffs, which as all Pats fans knows, that bye-week helps us out, doesn’t it? So, that was an important game for us to win. Well, we go into that game and after the first half, we’re down 22 to zip. We’re getting our butts kicked, okay? Up and down. Just did no show uh to start that game. And it was the best speech, non-spech I’ve ever heard, a coach give. And what happens is usually before you go out to play the second half, we all get together as a team and the head coach has some words for you. Coach Parcels, he comes up to all of us and he looks at all of us throughout the room with a hard stare. He shakes his head in disgust, turns and walks out the door. He doesn’t say one word. The second half, we don’t give up one point in the second half and we win on the last play of the game. A pass to Ben Coach at the two yardd line who gets pushed in and we win the game 23-22. And that gave us that buy and that was what helped propelled us to the Super Bowl that year. That was the best speech, Don speech I’ve ever heard. And that’s an example of the motivational powers that coach Parcels has. And Willie, re really quick, I got two things. The motivation thing is I I remember um he didn’t always hand out like slaps on the back or good game, right, Ty or Ted? Or you did a great job or whatever the case may be. So I think I had like I don’t know three or four games where I was just I had one good game nothing. He walked by in the stretch line. How you doing? Whatever. Another good game. I had like three or four good then on the fourth game. The fourth game that I was just like tearing things up. He comes over and he says McGinness. He says finally start the starting to play. I said I said right where you been? He was just like, “Let me let me tell you something important.” He said, “Anybody,” and this and this hit me hard as a player, “Anybody could do it once or do it twice. The great players, they do it all the time.” And and and and that stuck with me, coach. That stuck with me forever. And for all the other players here, you understand what that means. And this is what this place has been built from. Ownership all the way down. the consistency, always getting better, always finding ways to get better. Don’t take time to pat yourself on the back because there’s always more work to do and there’s always uh room to develop and get better. Now, here is my lifechanging NFL moment. My rookie year, we used to have practices and not those practices they have now, real practices. Two a days, full pads. Right, Marty? Preach. Preach. Marty. Marty Marty Moore knows. Marty Moore knows. Max, you know, Max Scott, real practices, full pads, Ty, what was it? 12, 13 practices in a row. In a row, full pads, two a days in the heat, goal line, half line, full line, everything. All right. He looked at everybody and he said, and I know you remember this phrase, there is no light at the end at the end of the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel. So, I’m a rookie and the rookies had to do special teams. You had to do your reps on defense. You had to do everything. This is the first practice after we I don’t know like the the 10th practice I go into a full body breakdown. Jim, you know how this goes. cramping, all those different things. My body breaks down. After the first practice, the the truck, the van comes, they take me to the hospital. I’m in IVs, air conditioned, the nice white sheets. It’s cool. I’m like, great. I don’t have to go to practice. I’m done for the day. He’s getting on my, you know what, nerves. He was in my ear all our practice. Here comes the ball boy. After about an hour, he wakes me up. My pads, everything is on the side of the bed. It’s on the side of the bed. I thought I was done for the day. He says, “Coach Parcel is expecting you at the second practice. I get unhooked from the IV. I’m like, is he serious? Like, do I really like you? You got the right guy. Like, you you saw what happened to me. like you guys had to literally pick me up, drive me to the hospital. I put on my stuff. I come to practice. I think I’m gonna be on the sideline or whatever. Uh oh. I get He’s like, “Woolly, hurry up and get in the stretch line.” He walks by and he said, “Did you think that you wasn’t going to have to practice for the second practice?” And I said, “No, coach. I knew I was going to have to practice the entire time. I just thought you’d have a little mercy. And there there was no mercy. But what it taught me was no matter what you go through on this football field, no matter what you what happens with your brothers or whatever, to always continue to fight, to never give up. And that’s why they call him Winter Bill because we went hard all summer. We went hard all year long. We were physical. And when teams start to wear down, that toughness in us always kicked up. and we started to win all our games. You won a lot of them. Willie, Ted, Dante, Coach, thank you so much. You guys get back to your seats. I’ll take that, coach. And we’ll welcome up another special guest, the president of the Craft Group, Jonathan Craft. Thanks. That was pretty good. I hadn’t heard that Willie story before. Anyhow, look, we’re all gathered here today to celebrate two iconic members of the Patriot family. One, a head coach who, as you just heard, came in with the highest expectations, and he delivered on them. He brought us back to relevancy. and the other a player that arrived with no expectations at all. Julian walked into Foxboro without any fanfare. All he had was a seventhround draft card, a quarterback’s resume from Kent State, a chip on his shoulder as big as Gillette Stadium, and he had an out of thisworld work ethic and motivation instilled in him by his father, Frank. Julian wasn’t even supposed to make the team his rookie year. He certainly wasn’t supposed to go on to become Tom Brady’s go-to guy. And he definitely wasn’t supposed to go on to be a Super Bowl MVP. Yeah. But Julian, Julian didn’t just defy the expectations, he obliterated them. He obliterated them with his athleticism, with his physical toughness, and with his versatility. Those attributes all together allowed him to create some of the most iconic, jaw-dropping, memorable moments in patriot history. the the the the one to me that stands out on athleticism, I just point you to Super Bowl 51. All these plays we saw in the video, but the catch, [Music] [Applause] arguably the most important, memorable catch in Patriots history. Intertangled with three Falcons, the tip ball falling to the turf, centimeters off the ground, he grabs it. to keep to keep the game tying drive alive with a little over two minutes to go and and the play that really embodies his physical toughness to me took place two years earlier. Almost very similar situation. Super Bowl 49 about 10 minutes to go in the game. We’re down 10 points. We’re deep in our own end. It’s third and 14 and Tommy hits Jules right over the middle. But as Jules catches the ball, Cam Chancellor hits him as hard as a defender can hit a receiver. A thousand out of a thousand other receivers in that moment getting hit like that drop the ball. Not Julian. Caught the ball. First down. We score a touchdown. and his versatility was defined just three weeks earlier. We saw the play on the video, but three weeks earlier in the divisional game against the Ravens, we’re down seven in the third quarter. He throws a dime of a touchdown pass to Danny Amandola, 51 yards, and he walks off the field and just looks at Brady and says, “That’s how it’s done.” and his versatility was so important and it’s so important to the team. I got to point out one other thing. It was in the video, but people forget that in 2011 he played almost 100 snaps as a defensive back. He had 13 tackles. He took 27 snaps in the AFC Championship game. We beat the Ravens and went to Super Bowl 46. But As you heard Willie just say and you heard what coach Parcels preached, it’s not just about those moments. Those were memorable ones. It’s about consistency. And anytime Julian ran a route, Frank was ringing in his ears. It was 100% effort. It was surgical precision. If he was on the field during a running play, he blocked like a pulling guard. And when he was returning punts, not only did you get full effort every time, but you got all that shiftiness and speed. And as Stacy James said to me, it’s like he was a caffeinated squirrel. Stacy, that’s your line, not mine. But but as you just heard Willie talk about here with the consistency and coach parcels, he was consistent at one other thing too which was a pretty good skill of his and that was talking. He would he would talk to the opponent opposing team constantly. He would talk to the refs. He would talk to his teammates. He would talk to the media. And he could back it up. So few can back it up. But he deserved to talk cuz he can back it up. He’s still talking today. We see him with Gronk on the Fox pregame show. If you haven’t checked out their Dudes on Dudes podcast, you have to. Coach Parcels said he listens to it all the time. He’s like, “I wish I coached that guy.” Julian spent all 12 of his NFL seasons right here in New England. And by and by the sounds of that cheer, we all know that that matters to all of us in this hall. Longevity in the uniform matters. And when the fans when the fans vote on the enshrine each year, they take that into account. It means something to them. loyalty means something to them. And Julian gave us both. He finished his career with 620 receptions, 6,822 receiving yards, 36 touchdowns, almost 2,000 yards as a punt returner, four punts returned for touchdowns. But where he really shined was the postseason. Julian is second all time in NFL history only to Jerry Rice in po in postseason receptions and receiving yards. He won three Super Bowls. He has three rings. He led our team in receiving yards in two of them. He won Super Bowl MVP. He was the Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl 53. Julian, you weren’t just clutch. You were chaos in cleats. On third on third. That was Stacy, too. Stacy gave me that one. I don’t take credit. I’m not creative. On third down, when everybody in the stadium knew where the ball was going, all the defenders, he still made the play. He made fourth down comebacks look like routine dramas. And he made every kid in New England believe that it was about heart over height. It was about hustle over hype. And that being underestimated fuels greatness. Julian. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my honor to present the 37th member of the Hall of Fame, Julian Edelman. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Praise the Lord. Man, that’s a great speech. [Music] It’s a great speech and it’s honestly an honor to be on this stage with Coach Parcels and the other Hall of Fame inductees. Um, first off, I just want to take a second here. I mean, look around Foxboro, Gillette Stadium. This place is huge. The fans, my family sitting right here in the front row. Hey, baby girl. To be standing up here today being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame is pretty surreal. I stand before you in a red jacket with the honor of being enshrined forever. But for years, I would drive up to this building, this stadium, praying it wouldn’t be my last. There was so much uncertainty that comes into a late round pick, chasing his dream to be in this league. I came here a Norcow kid who played college football in Northeast Ohio, [Music] not knowing what position I’d play. Certainly not knowing my what my future held and I literally had to Google where Foxboro was. All I think I remembered was O2 Madden. I think there was a bunch of trees around it and thought it was a a glitch in the game. But the one thing I did know is that I’ve been given an opportunity here. I found a building full of some of the smartest, hardworking men and women I’d ever been around. A group of men from all different walks of life coming together for the pursuit of one common goal, no matter what it took. And I’m so glad this place became my home. [Music] To stand here now knowing I’m forever part of this organization’s history is the ultimate honor. And first I want to thank the Craft family. RKK. I can still remember like it was yesterday. One of our first team meetings with you in there. you uh you said the only way you were going to be able to buy this team, your wife said Myra Miss Craft, which I got to meet her and be around her for my first few years. You said she she was going to make you have to make an impact on the community. And that’s what you did. So, thank you, Mr. Craft, for all the the wisdom that you gave me uh in the building, outside the building. I I love going over our faith of Judaism together and thank you for believing in me for creating a culture where someone like me could find a role and thrive. You built something special here, something that goes beyond wins and losses. It’s about family and it’s about community. Now, when I first got drafted here, even though I had no idea where Foxboro was, I certainly knew the legend. The legend of Tom, Bill, and RKK, the dominance of those early 2000s teams. There was an aura around this organization. So, I was excited for my opportunity. Walking in on my first day of rookie mini camp, I knew it was going to be an extreme challenge to make this team. Then the big dogs showed up. Tom made it look so easy. I remember the first time I saw him throw a ball. I was like, “Holy smokes.” Suddenly my switch from QB to receiver seemed like a great decision. And then I saw Randy Moss on the other end of that throw. You guys are cheering. I was cheering in practice. It was like poetry emotion. I knew I had a lot to learn. But luckily, I had some an incredible support system around me. Mentors and coaches who love to do exactly that. Coach you and coach you hard. Those first few years, I knew my place. Be seen, not heard. I learned how to write an insane amount of notes. asked qu asked questions. I had a lot of mental reps. Didn’t play a lot. And definitely learned to not interrupt Randy Moss while he was talking to his mother on the phone. I was a sponge. I absorbed everything I could and I never stopped in my 12 years. In those 12 years here, I was fortunate enough to play in some incredible games, be part of some big moments. Everyone wants to talk about the catch or Malcolm’s interception in that Super Bowl or the Super Bowl MVP, and I’ll never forget any of those, but those moments go by so fast. What I truly cherish are the countless hours we put in to make those moments happen. For example, before every day, every practice, I used to have to get my my hand eye coordination going and I’d do these ball drills. It started with the wall, a bucket of different colored tennis balls, and someone throwing to me. Now, it sounds simple enough. Yeah, you know, I had to get my focus right. I had real bad ADD. And I also needed to learn how to create a routine. That’s what I saw from all all the great guys. They had great routines. But I was really particular with these drills. So, I would put together a combine and I would pull people from the equipment staff, the training staff, the weight staff, the offensive assistants, anyone that had any kind of athletic ability in their background and I’d run them through a series of drills to see who threw the best ball. Of course, right? So, I got to shout out my guys, Double J’s, Jimmy Neutron, Bobby Balls, Wall-E, Frank Ross, and a countless other guys. I love you guys. I spent a lot of time with those guys at 5:00 a.m. in the morning or 8:00 at night after practice. Anytime I need to get my confidence, those guys are always there. Bobby Balls is here. I saw him somewhere. You know, they they love to work and I love to work. I took pride knowing that I was doing absolutely everything I could to get the most out of my day, my week, and ultimately my career, trying to find the edge, which the old dogs always used to say, we got to catch the edge on you guys. So, that was a little tip to them. Playing in the National Football League is a dream for every football player, no matter who drafts you. But there is something special about New England. What makes this place so special and so great is how much everyone here cares. Not just the players, coaches in the front office. I mean everyone. You heard Coach Parcels bring up Nancy. From the trainers, Jim Whan to the Nancy’s in the building to the trainers like Joe V, Jim Whan, the nutritionist Ted, our security guards, our lunch ladies, everyone in the hallways. We all knew we were part of something bigger and everyone did their job and they did it well. So, thank you guys. We built so many awesome relationships and memories over the years. And I I know I wasn’t the easiest person to be around all the time, but uh I knew without everyone buying in behind the scenes, this whole thing never happens. And none of this ever happens without my support system. The people who got me through the ups and downs, always keeping me in check when things were going good and always talking me off a ledge when things were going bad. My agents, Don, Steve, Carter, and Shawn Tall, you guys believed in me first. You took a shot on a kid who wasn’t even supposed to be drafted, and you showed me the way. And I always remember that. I mean, I remember going on visits. I always had to wear my suit cuz Don said, “This is a job interview. You got to look like you’re going in for a job.” So, I I appreciate you guys. I love you. To my friends, all my friends from back home, LA, Josh, Jeff, Eric, Texas, Lisa, Boston, I have so many new friends here. New York, you always had my back. Having a great group of friends along the way makes the journey so much better. So, thank you all and especially Kurt. My boy Kurt. You stuck around with me from the days of catching balls and shagging balls in Redwood City, Red Morton Park all the way to Super Bowl parades down Boilston Street. I couldn’t have done it without you, bro. I appreciate you. At its core, football is the ultimate team game. 11 guys doing their jobs for 5 seconds at a time. 50 to 70 plays, 110 in Super Bowl 51 or something like that. And I mean, if one guy messes up, it could be a colossal disaster. Just like in life, nothing in the game of football is achievable alone. And on this team, we only cared about one stat and one stat only, the win loss column. First, like any good receiver, I got to give a shout out to my quarterback, the hand that feeds you, right? TB12. You know, I was lucky to be drafted here because I got to be around a guy like him who was a role model in this league. The guy who taught me what it meant to be a professional, how to take care of your body. Shout out to Mr. Miyagi, Alex Guerrero. The standard you set, Tom, the drive, your dedication, your example drove us all to be better. And he was the same guy every day. And that was over 22 years. That’s a lot of days, guys. That’s a lot of days. And one of the first things Tom Brady ever said to me, I think we were uh we just got out of one of our first OTAA practices, and I I already told you I was in awe of watching him throw. I go, “Man, you work so hard.” And he looked at me with those blue eyes and that jawline. He goes, “Babe, if all you ever do is all you ever done, then all you ever get is all you ever got.” He then he winked at me and left. I was like, “What?” And that was Tom. Thank you for letting me be, bringing me in and allowing me to learn from you, bro. But I wouldn’t be nothing without all my teammates. to the guys that push me to be better every day like the Danny Amandolas, the Rob, the Rob Ninkovich’s, the Patrick Chungs, the Devin McCordes, the Malcolm Butlers, to the guys that went out of their way to show me how to be a professional like the Kevin Faulks. or the Vince Wilforks, the Logan Mins, the Dan Conley’s, the Sam Aens, the Fred Taylor, or the guys that picked me up when I was down like Matthew Slater. Slate was always there. We lived together for four or five years like a college frat house. Pizza boxes is furniture. And uh we would both have to go to these 6 a.m. Scotty O’Brien preings to go over the special teams meetings before the meetings. So we would go over punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return, field goal, field goal block. Didn’t matter if we were on it, we were there. And uh that created a lasting friendship, a brotherhood. And through the years when we’d go down a two-game losing streak or something was going on in the building, me and Slate would pass each other in the hall. We’d call for a state of the union, as we used to call it back at our house, and it was a way for us to express the stress that playing in New England caused. It was a way for us to vocalize our fears that the sky was falling, which it almost never was, but it was always good to have a person you could talk to that knows exactly what you are going through. Brother for life, man. You’re a brother for life. I love you, Slate. Another great example of a professional before he had kids, a son, now a father, a husband, and I believe that God put slate in my life for a reason. I love you, bro. Now, over my career, I played with thousands of players. So, if I forget you, I am sorry. But it was my job to go across the middle every Sunday and dig out that force. But here it goes. Uh here’s a couple. Grank, he was such an inspiration. Grank was such an inspiration on how he enjoyed football, his genuiness, and that I mean it was it was insane. Danny Amandola. Yeah, you guys were cheering. But when he signed here, I wasn’t cheering. I was pissed about it. But you know what? Danny being the calm, cool, collect dude he was, he always looked out after me. He always knew when I was pissed off about something and he would always bring me up. Man, I love you. Hoy dog. Brian Hoyer or Axel Hoyer. Still remember doing those walkthroughs in those hotel rooms to try to get those formation personnel groups and those plays down, bro. Rookie year. That was awesome. Chung R. Me and Chun used to fight like every day in practice. He was the safety I had to block. Uh Randy West. Those guys were unbelievable examples to watch how to be a professional. I’d throw a Keeb Talib Rivas and Devin McCordi in there. [Music] We used to challenge each other every single day and we would fight. But that’s what brothers do. Mins, Dan Connley, Matt Light, Steve Neil, Ryan Wendell, Sebass, Cannon, DA, and Stor, the big dogs. I’m a former quarterback. You got to give the lineman some love, right? And I’m also a smart guy that loves food and they always had the best Thanksgivings. And also Sam Aken, uh, you know, he was a special teams captain my rookie year. He gave us a lot of knowledge on how to create value to be able to stick on a team. And there’s countless guys. Uh there’s countless guys. These are some just the few that I love. And uh what a team really does, it makes you hold yourself to a higher standard than you ever thought was possible because you didn’t want to be the guy to let the guys down. And speaking of people who are easily let down, I also want to thank my coaches, my professional coaches. They were tough, high standard here. But my Pop Warner coaches from Redwood City, the Coach Guida, RIP Frank Guided, he was one of the huge people in my community with football. Coach Nick Lopoulos, Coach Sam RIP to you, Coach Sam at Woodside High School, Coach Owens, Coach Pollock Tullik at College of Sonteo, and then Coach Martin at Kent State. And I would put Casey Wolf in there, too. He was like my uh my life coach. He’s here today. Thank you for being here, Casey. You always believed in me. And then, of course, all the coaches who helped me play my 12 years here in New England. We’ll start at the top. Coach Bellich now. Coach Parcels, I didn’t play for you, so I’m sorry about this, but he’s one of the greatest coaches that I’ve ever had. I lived in constant fear of coach and still kind of do, but I can’t thank him enough for giving me an opportunity. Your coaching was tough. It was hard. It was honest. And sometimes we didn’t understand why we were doing what we were doing, but it always seemed to pay off. Now, Coach Bellich used to say, “To improve, you can’t just work hard. You need to find a peer or a coach, ask them how to get better. They will specify it, and then you work hard on those specifics, and that’s how you improve. I took that to heart. It sounds so simple, but I found out it was. Thanks, coach. Now, in the facility, Bill was like the principal and all the other coaches and coordinators were kind of like the faculty and then you had Scar who was kind of like the dean. I would go up to these guys for advice on how to get the most out of myself and what I had to do to contribute to the team team. Josh McDaniels, man, when you got here, you believed in me. You gave me opportunity. You developed me. And I love you to death for that. Coach Scarnio. Now, Coach Scar wasn’t my coach, but he had uh he had an unbelievable way of bringing guys up in the littlest way in an environment that didn’t really give compliments. I can specifically remember on a fourth and two play against Indianapolis Colts, we had a schemed up reverse. Do you remember this, coach? No. Yeah. We had this schemed up reverse and we got blown up, but I somehow got the first down and I don’t think we played a very good game. So, we won the game, but it wasn’t like a win. I remember, you know, I was kind of down on myself for some of the other things I did in that game. I was walking through the hall. I remember Coach Scar came up to me and he goes, you know, we’re sure lucky to have you. And that went so far. I appreciate that, Coach. Billy O’Brien was my first offensive coordinator. He was a guy that challenged me. He coached me hard. He’s here today. He’s Boston College head coach. Let’s go BC. Let’s go BC. I love you to death. Mattie P, Scotty O, Coach Fears, and the list goes on. There’s so many. But I’ll tell you a little story about my pre-draft process. The first person I met from the Patriots was running back’s coach Ivan Fears. He came to work me out at Kent State and there was this snowstorm that day. So, we worked out in in our bubble. We had a bubble. It was kind of janky, but we had a bubble. Um, he worked me out as a running back and then he also worked me out as a receiver. And shout out to Charlie Fry cuz Charlie Fry under that whole process, he would come to my all my workouts and he would throw to me. He was a quarterback on the Oakland Raiders and he went to my rival school at Akran and that was a big deal. But getting back to my my story with Coach Fears when it was time to go out and catch punts, like I said, there was a snowstorm and if any of you guys know Ivan, he didn’t love the weather that much. Uh he was all bundled up like Randy from Christmas Story. He saw me catch two punts and then he said, “All right, we’re done. We’re done. We’re done.” And we we we left and I I caught two punts and I was like, “Oh, that went well.” and uh we always had a special relationship because of that. He was the first person I got to meet from this organization and I love coach Fur. And then the next step of the process, they sent out Scotty O’Brien, our our special teams coordinator. And before the workout, Scotty O goes, “Do you know how to catch a punt?” And I lied. Heck yeah, coach. I know. I got it. And he goes, “You know how to read a punt?” I go, “What do you mean read a punt?” And he goes, “Well, with the tip it,” he goes, “Well, if the tip goes over on a right- footed punter, you got to play it on your right chest, so you get a two-way go.” And I’m like, “Oh, cool. He’s looking out for me. If it doesn’t turn over, it’s going to die and go right on a right footed punter. You got to play it on your left chest, so you got a two-way go.” I’m like, “All right, this guy’s helped me out. He’s helped me out.” He goes, “What’s the point returner’s first job to do on the field?” I go, “This is easy. You got to look at the wind.” He goes, “No, no, you don’t. What are we doing? What are we doing? You got to count the players on the field to be legal, blubs. Nice. Nice. And that was Scotty O’s summed up in a in a sentence. We spent so much time, like I said, me and and Matthew with Scott O’Brien. The first few years of my career, we learned everything from his TI83 investments that he made a boatload of money on. We were not making a lot of money at that time. We found out his dad was uh Jack Dempsey’s boxing trainer. And me and Slate used to sit under this cigar, a big old cigar. And Scotty Oo, every time he would look at it, he goes, “We’re going to smoke that thing after we win a Super Bowl.” And we did. And we did. I also got to give a special thank you to my receiver coach, Chatty O’Shea. [Music] [Applause] We came in together. He was like my psychiatrist. Always reading my energy, challenging me the right way, pushing the right buttons. There’s a lot of roles for coaches. Yes, they got to give you the info and the technique. But you spend so much time with these guys, especially as younger guys. They’re almost like a foster parent, and that’s what kind of Chadio was. I love you, Chadio. Thank you. I was always coachable. Well, not always, but in New England, the staff, they’d coach you and they coach you hard. Landing here with this incredible staff molded me into the person I am today. To my family, thank you for being my rock. You kept me grounded when things were tough. You can’t be humble when things are going well. My older brother Jason, thank you for beating me up. He made me tough. My brother was seven years older than me. I used to play with all his him and his friends. They’d all beat me up, too. And uh it made me fearless. Anytime a guy was two feet taller than me, I I was never scared of him because of that. And I probably deserved all those beatups. But I love you and thank you, bro. My sister Nikki, Nicole, thank you for always being with Thank you for all your love and support. You were always there. Whether dad was throwing me batting practice and you were shagging the balls or whether you were on first base while I was at short throwing you, you were always there and you did it with a smile on your face. And congratulations to the new addition to our family, baby Klette. She just had a baby. My mom. Now, my mom’s my mom’s one of the most loyal people in this world. I mean, I had a bag lunch until junior college, and they were the best lunches. I had a PB&J, a deli sandwich, a Coke, well, usually a Safeway Select on on sale, a water, chips, and a Hostess. She was the best. She drove me to all our sporting events. We were always 20 minutes early. She basically raised us while my dad was working. But my mom also has a real My mom’s also a real tough lady. My dad’s mom, my grandma used to say, “That lady’s meaner than a two-headed rattlesnake.” And trust me, if you got in between my mom and her family, you better watch out. And honestly, that was me on the field, Mom. Your fire was me in between the lines. And I love you. I love you more than anything. and to my father, my first coach. You instilled so much in me growing up. [Music] But most importantly, you instilled work ethic. the idea that nothing in life is given to you or fair and all you can worry about is what’s on your plate that day. You preach do the little things and focus on what you can control. And that’s something I lived by. You taught me the importance of a routine. See, my dad, he would get up at 5:00 a.m. He was a mechanic. He’d go open up his shop at 6:00 a.m. work a 12-h hour day. Then I’d see him before practice so we could practice before practice or before a game so we could practice before the game. We did that every day and I needed that all those years of school homework school homework repeat that prepared me for the NFL grind. He was tough and uh these days he might be thrown in jail for how he did things. But I wouldn’t be here without him. He would always say, “Keep your head down, no sniveling, and get to work.” Thanks, Pop. I love you. And to my liybug, [Applause] my liy rosemary. Everything I do, I do for you. I hope you understand why dad’s always working so hard, always beat up, always sore. It was for moments like this to show you that if you You commit to something and give 100%. There’s nothing you can’t do. Focus and attitude. Focus and attitude, right? The greatest thing about being a parent is that your kid inspires you. Teaching them life lessons is a great reminder for yourself. And like Barry White said, you got to practice what you preach. And then there’s you guys, the fans, Patriot Nation. [Applause] From the freezing cold nights to the rainy afternoons, you showed up and you’d give us some boobirds every once in a while if we deserved it. But you believed in us and you believed in me. I wasn’t the flashiest player, but you embraced me for who I was. A grinder, a fighter, a guy who tried to leave it out on sun on the field every Sunday. Now, New England was the perfect fit for my mentality. A hardworking region that puts heart and toughness above all. And your support meant more than you’ll ever know. So, thank you. So, here we are. a seventh round draft pick, now standing in the Patriots Hall of Fame. [Applause] You know, if that doesn’t tell you something about what’s possible, I don’t know what will. We love you, too. I love you guys, too. And to all the young bucks out there, don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot be. Don’t let where you start dictate where you finish. For me, when things would start to seem impossible, memorizing a playbook, rehabbing from an injury, trying to get a tall call back from Tom Brady, I would remember what my dad used to tell me as a little boy. He would say, “Son, life is simple but hard.” Meaning, it’s simple knowing what you have to do. We all know what we have to do to be a better teacher, to be a better parent, to be a better person, to be a better worker, to be a better student. But it’s a but actually doing it is the hard part. I’ll always be proud to say I’m a New England patriot. And this place made me who I am today. And now to be part of its history is the greatest honor of my career. So, thank you to the Craft family. Thank you to my coaches. Thank you to my teammates. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes. Thank you to my friends and family. And thank you, Patriots Nation. And thank you to football for giving me a life I could never have dreamed of. Amen. And I want to wish everyone a happy new year coming up. Shinatova and Foxboro forever. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] Julian, thank you. And if you’ll have a seat here momentarily, we’d like to welcome former teammates and coaches Danny Amandola, Josh McDaniels, Bill O’Brien, and Matthew Slater to the stage. While we also hear from a couple of guys that Julian just mentioned, some of his former teammates. Julian, congratulations on being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Such a well-deserved honor. And honestly, there’s nobody who is more deserving and who embodies what it means to be a Patriot more than you. the toughness, the competitiveness, the relentless drive. You brought every day to work and everybody saw the catches on Sundays, but what I got to see were all the hours that nobody else did. All the late nights, the film sessions, all the things we did in Montana, in Brookline, the practices you pushed through most people couldn’t. That’s why you became the player that you were. And that’s why you have that red jacket in your standing there today. You weren’t the biggest. You weren’t the fastest, but nobody was tougher. Nobody was more dependable, and nobody came through in the clutch when it mattered the most more than you. Some of my favorite memories on the field was throwing the ball to you, Jules, in the biggest games with everything on the line. And we built an incredible bond through those battles and for all the championships we brought all the way home back to New England. So, tonight, you get to enjoy the moment. It’s your night and you’ve earned every bit of it. But you know the drill. Tomorrow it’s back to work. Now that we’re on the same team at Fox, I want to keep seeing the same effort you gave me all those years. I love you, Jules. I’m so proud of you. I wish I could be there with you tonight, but it’s an incredible honor. Nobody deserves it more. I love you and I’m proud of you. What’s up, Patriot fans? I am so sorry that I couldn’t be there today to celebrate my guy Julian in person. I wanted to send a message to say a huge congratulations on being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Jules aka the squirrel. You are so deserving of this honor as one of the fiercest competitors and most clutch performers I have ever played with. You showed up when it mattered most. Made the impossible catches, took the hardest hits, and kept getting up. Nothing kept you down. You helped define what it meant to be a Patriot. Toughness, resilience, and a relentless drive to win. And always with a chip on your shoulder, buddy. Thank you for making all those big plays that led to us winning three Super Bowls together. Thank you for all the special memories and thank you for continuing to be a great friend and always being you, kid. Celebrate hard for me today. Congratulations again and go Pats. And always remember, Jules, you taught me this quote. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do, and you define that, Jules. Love you, buddy. All right, let’s welcome former Patriots offensive coordinator, current BC Eagle head coach Bill O’Brien, Matthew Slater, playoff Danny Amandola, current Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, and of course Jelina Edelman. So Tom’s taking your calls these days. How does it make you feel? You know, the guy gives me video messages. He can’t call my phone. No, I’m just I just talked to him and that was awesome to hear that from him. Uh he was the leader, you know. I everyone always wants to talk about the Patriot way and I I always like to define it like this. The coaches were like Congress that would make the laws and the players were like the guys that enforced them. So, uh to hear that from the ultimate leader is is an honor. Julie, in the pressure situations, biggest moments, most important games, you came through with regularity, but I wonder how much of that goes back to how you got here in the first place. those days fielding punts for Ivan and Scotty, what you had to do to embrace all your roles in practice every day. Were those your playoff games day after day after day in respect? You know what? Uh I thought I was getting cut until like my fifth year every day. Um and that’s how high stress environment practice was. The the practices here were like mini games. That’s what Scotty O used to call him. He goes, “These are mini games.” And that’s how all the guys took it. So when we got to Sunday, Tom would always say, “We got the answers to the test. We just got to go do it now because our practices were so hard.” And that’s what you leaned on through all the moments. You just anytime I felt like uh I wasn’t as confident as I needed to be, I go catch some balls. I would go do something. I would try to catch an edge. Billy, you were the OC. As Julian said, when he got here, you get a quarterback from Ken State. He’s proven he can catch punts. He proved in day one in the preseason that he could return them. What did it take to become a wide receiver? Particularly that position, all the intricacies of playing the slot position from where he started to where he ended. Yeah, it’s a it’s an incredible story. It’s a it’s a huge credit to Julian, you know, he talked a lot about it. I mean, to come in uh when he came in having never played that position before, and to come into that room, he talked about a little bit. There was, you know, Randy Moss was in that room and and Wes Welker and obviously Tom was the quarterback. I I give him a lot of credit. He credited, rightfully so, Chad O’Shea. Nick Cacerio was another guy that that spent a lot of time with him when he first came here. And I can remember him, I said this earlier to him, he was a guy that never got down. He got very frustrated. He was frustrated when he couldn’t, you know, maybe get it the exact way that it was supposed to be, but he never he never got down on himself. He just figured it out and and had a relentless attitude. And, you know, in the the new phrase today is competitive stamina. He had amazing competitive stamina day in and day out to to get better. Julian, you’re coaching young wide receivers today. You’ve brought guys into this organization and taught them the Patriot ways of playing wide receiver. How often do you go to the teach tape of Julian Edelman? Often. uh he’s on a lot of those clips and you know his versatility was mentioned already today and there was so many things that Julian ended up being really good at and you know his effort and his work ethic, his toughness all stand out but there was so many other details that allowed him to play all these different positions and as a play caller and as an offensive coordinator you know whenever you needed a specific play whether it’s third down or the red zone you’re thinking about players and where to put them and how to get him the opportunity to get the ball. And Julian earned that because he became such a versatile piece to our offense. Matthew Bill touched on the frustration Julian might show. He talked about your relationship. Take us back to those days and then take us forward to Super Bowl 53 on the field that embrace after you beat the Rams. He’s the MVP. You held him in your embrace. How did you get from point A to there? Yeah. Well, let me say how incredibly proud of Julian that I am. To be able to witness his entire professional journey is is one of the highlights of my uh professional career. So to see him come in when he was Julian Edelman, now he’s J11. And to see that that transformation was incredible. And there’s one thing I’ll say about Julian’s career. Nothing was given to him. He had to fight and claw for everything that he achieved in this league. He committed himself to the process. Uh he showed a level of toughness that elevated our entire team and it made everyone around him better. So to see all those qualities on display day in and day out and watch them all come together the way that they did uh in a moment like that. You mentioned the Super Bowl MVP was so special for me uh because I felt like I had a front row seat to greatness and I really did. Danny, as Julian alluded to, when you came here, Wes Welker had departed through free agency. Patriots signed you, the former Ram. you guys wind up being linked to so many incredible moments on the field, the comeback in the fourth quarter against the Seahawks, the game against the Ravens, that pass play, etc. How did you develop such a great relationship? How did he push you to make you better? You know, his relentless attitude to prepare well in the in the offseason uh during the season. Um you know, I met Julian when we were 24 years old. We were training in LA together. I was playing for the St. Louis Rams at the time and and he was part of this uh organization. uh you know we push each other in the offseason training. We’d root for each other uh during you know our our independent seasons. And then I remember having a vivid phone call with Julian one time when my contract was coming up and I was like what if we played it what if we played into the in in the same offense? What if could would you think they’d be able to guard both of us? and he’d be like, “Nah, I don’t know, Bob’s like, let’s He’s like, there’s only one ball, you know.” But, uh, we, uh, I knew I knew for a fact I knew for a fact that if if we got to play together, we could compete. We could push each other to get better every single day and ultimately uh, we put a great product on the field and that’s what that’s what he did. Josh, how’d you do it with these two guys? I think that’s one of the the big, you know, everybody talks about Julian being a slot receiver and I think he’s so much more than that, you know, and we had guys that certainly played only in the slot and, you know, when we had Danny and Jules together, a lot of times we either put both of them in there or, you know, Danny would be inside and Julian was on the outside. And I I think of so many specific plays and games where he spent a lot of the time blocking Jamal Adams or Cam Chancellor or doing a lot of the things that nobody talks about that will never show up in the stat sheet because he wasn’t in the slot. He was on the front side of the play and and at the point of attack. So you you find ways to put great players on the field and try to do the best things with them and and these two certainly deserved it. Hey, Bill, you had to face him too as the head coach of the Houston Texans in some of those big playoff moments. What did you tell your team about Julian and in Danny’s case too, the two of them together? Yeah, I mean you you better be ready to go. I mean, we faced them here uh in a playoff game. I forget what year it was, 18 or 17 or 18. We we had a good team. We had a good team, but you know, they had an incredible team and and those two guys, the the competitiveness that they had um on the field, you know, when plays would happen on our sideline, there would be some some chatter back and forth, which was all in good fun. But, uh, yeah, it was it was just, you know, you always had to remind your team that it was every play like you could never take a play off when you were playing, uh, these guys, that offense, um, you know, this team, especially in this building, really anywhere uh, that you had to play every single play, you had to defend, every blade of grass when you when you played these guys. Lots been said by Julian and about him. Matthew and Danny, I’ll leave the last question for both of you. Uh, what can you tell us? got a good story about Julian Edelman that captures him, friend, teammate that you can share with us maybe that we haven’t heard yet. Well, I don’t think I can share many of them. There are children here today. Um, but on a serious note, and you know, I’m as I get older, I’m soft now. I’m down there tearing up and everything. But, you know, people used to to ask us all the time, they still do, how in the world did the two of you live together? Like if you know me and you know him, it doesn’t add up. And they used to call us the odd couple. And for me, it it is proof of a couple of things. Um in life, I think there’s one thing we all share, and that’s humanity. We all have the same need and want to be loved, to be respected, to be seen for who we truly are. And with us, we found common ground. And that’s the thing I’m most proud of. We found we we always found common ground. Even when it didn’t make sense to everybody else, it made sense to us. And I know this guy came along at a point in time in my life and in my career where I needed support. I needed someone to push me and I needed a peer to say, “Hey, I believe in you. I see what you’re doing.” And he did that for me. So thanks, brother. That’s awesome. That’s how good of a guy Slate is. It was more of him supporting, bro. I was always talking He was talking me off the ledge. He just liked to listen. Yeah. I mean, two things really uh come to mind. You know, just the way Julian was brought up. Shout out to Frank and Angie. You guys did an amazing job. Um I got to witness that every single day. And and more importantly, the father that you become to Lily. I’ve got to witness that firsthand as Lily’s uh godfather. Uh pride and joy. I know um I know you’re you’re obviously a great football player and we see highlights of that, but to witness you firsthand as a great father is is what’s most important and I I appreciate that uh from you as as your as your friend. So, uh my favorite story with Jules though, it’s halftime. We’re playing the we’re playing in Houston Super Bowl 51 I think. Coach Julian somehow Julian’s shirt always comes off like whatever whatever I don’t know whatever we’re doing his shirt’s usually coming off. So, he’s walking around. We’re getting we’re getting the break speed off us at this point. It’s we’re by down by a million points and uh and Julian’s walking around and he’s saying it’s going to be a hell of a story. It’s going to be a hell of a story. And I just want to say Julian Edelman, congratulations entering the Patriots Hall of Fame. It is in fact one hell of a story. I think it’s a perfect way to end it. Hey Bill, thanks so much. All the best to the Eagles rest of the season. Matthew, Danny, great to see you guys again. Josh, have a great one tomorrow. Julian, congratulations. Thanks for so many great moments. Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone. John, take it away. [Music] Ladies and gentlemen, Patriots, thank you once again for attending our 17th induction ceremony for the Patriots Hall of Fame presented by RTX. And as we conclude this ceremony, I’ll ask all of our Hall of Famers to stay up here on stage with Robert and Jonathan Krab for a few extra photos. for everyone who is here in attendance. The Patriots Hall will be open tonight until 7 pm if you’d like to go in and look around. And thank you. Most importantly, we got a game tomorrow. Go Patriots. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] How many? [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Squirrel. [Music] Looks like I lose your touch. [Music]

Watch a live stream of the Patriots Hall of Fame induction of Julian Edelman and Bill Parcells. Event is scheduled to start at 4pm on Saturday, September 20, 2025.

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