FOXBORO -- It's been quite the week for Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman.
The veteran, who is preparing for his 11th NFL season, celebrated his 33rd birthday Tuesday and the day before that he signed a two-year extension with the Patriots keeping him in New England through 2021.
"It's awesome," he said following Thursday's OTA session. "I'm born here in my football career, and I'm going to have a few more years here. And I just want to take a second and thank the Kraft family, coach Belichick, Nick Caserio and everyone that was involved, my agents, for getting this done."
Edelman added: "I love being here. I don't want to be anywhere else, and I'm excited for this upcoming year. And I'm excited for this spring to work on our fundamentals and mold our team and keep it going."
This will likely mean he will both start and finish his career with the same team, something not many players can say they did.
"Honestly, I've always just been worried about what's on my plate at the time and place that I was in at that time," he said. "Honestly, I didn't want to go anywhere, and I'm not going anywhere. So Boston, I'll be back for a couple more."
The Kent State product is coming off one of his better seasons in the league, as in 12 regular-season games plus three playoff games he recorded 100 catches for 1,238 yards and six touchdowns.
Edelman will assume the No. 1 wide receiver role again this year with not much help being added this offseason. He also may be asked to do even more to help make up for the loss of Rob Gronkowski, but he isn't thinking much about that.
"I've accomplished goals in the past. And when you do that, you set new goals," he said. "I've been blessed and fortunate to attain and reach a lot of my dreams, but I still have a lot of other things that I want to go for. Got a big chip on my shoulder still, and I look forward to coming out here and contributing to the team and working hard each day, helping younger guys."
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