Julian Edelman Takes Martellus Bennett’s Side in 2016 Jimmy Garoppolo Drama

The former Patriots quarterback was criticized by his own teammate for not playing through the shoulder injury.

During an appearance on the I AM ATHLETE podcast, former NFL wide receiver Julian Edelman strolled down memory lane and made his position known on a particularly drama-filled time with the Patriots. 

Back in 2016, Tom Brady was suspended for the first four games of the season for his role in Deflategate. As a result, Jimmy Garoppolo was named the team’s starting quarterback but he was injured in Week 2 after he injured his non-throwing shoulder against the Dolphins. He missed the next two games and his teammate at the time, Martellus Bennett, called him out in public for not playing through the injury. 

Edelman read Bennett’s quote aloud before giving his two cents on the whole situation. 

Julian Edelman shared on @IAMATHLETEpod that he was mad Jimmy G didn’t play through injury in 2016:

"I’m not gonna lie, I got mad about it. I sacrifice my body all day long. ... I can understand why Marty [Bennett] thinks like that."

🏈: https://t.co/hLgMorBWil pic.twitter.com/CpS8loKIsO

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 28, 2022

Bro, we lost two games. One of them was because Jimmy Garoppolo was being a b----. He decided not to play right before the game. Jacoby Brissett came out and played with a f----- up thumb and played his heart out but Jimmy was being a b---- about it all. That’s why you can’t win with a b---- for a quarterback, first of all. 

That was the thing with him, he didn’t want to come out and do anything because his agent was trying to protect his body or some s--- like that. Which, I can’t fault him for that, but like, you should have made the decision on Thursday. Now, it’s Sunday.

Jacoby Brissett played in Garoppolo’s place in Week 3 against the Texans where he injured his thumb but played through it in Week 4 against the Bills. 

“Jacoby tore his ligaments in his thumb,” Edelman said. “So we go into Week 4, and I guess Jimmy was practicing and decided not to play and Jacoby played with no ligaments in his thumb which you can’t do that as a quarterback. You can’t grip.

“A lot of guys got mad about it,” Edelman continued. “I’m not gonna lie, I got mad about it. I sacrifice my body all day long. I was taking shots for this, numbing up that, broken ribs, shoulders, Grade 3, hanging on by limbs just to play and I can understand why Marty [Bennett] thinks like that.”