The New England Patriots kicked off their 2019 training camp earlier today, but one notable player was not participating fully in the session: Julian Edelman, who was placed on the non-football injury list yesterday because of a thumb injury, was working on the side with other players still not cleared for practice. And judging by a recent report by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, fans should get used to not seeing Edelman with the first-team offense.
Rapoport added some additional information to Edelman’s injury situation today, and also noted that the reigning Super Bowl MVP “just may not play in a preseason game” due to what was now described as a broken thumb (the injury was previously classified as a ‘mild trauma’). Edelman injured it three weeks ago while playing catch, according to the report, and should be fine once the Patriots’ regular season starts on September 8.
The 33-year-old will not remain on the NFI list until then, though. Instead, he is expected to return to practice by mid-August. Just don’t expect him to see much if any action during the Patriots’ preseason games: the team will play it safe with its most experienced wide receiver, and rather give more snaps to the youngsters/offseason acquisitions to get on the same page with quarterback Tom Brady.