NFL teams will cut their rosters to 53 players on Saturday and we already know one move that the Patriots will be making as they pare down for the regular season.
Wide receiver Julian Edelman will be going to the suspended list after a violation of the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Edelman will miss the first four weeks and he said on Tuesday that he’s having a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that he only has a handful of days left before the ban goes into effect.
“It’s been a hard week,” Edelman said, via the team’s website. “It’s definitely been a reality check, but I’m not going to sit here and worry about things I can’t control. Ultimately, I put myself in this situation. I definitely put a lot more value into these practices, every opportunity I’ve had this week to do extra. Yeah, I won’t be there for the first four, so, I don’t want to go into those weeks saying, ‘I wish I would’ve done this or that.'”
Edelman chose not to share how he’ll be training during his absence from the team, but said he’s gotten advice about handling the time away from Tom Brady. Brady served a four-game suspension to start the 2016 season and played in New England’s fourth preseason game that summer. It’s not known if Edelman will do the same this week.