The Patriots have won six Super Bowls. Tom Brady was MVP of four of them.
Deion Branch was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.
Now, Julian Edelman has joined them.
Edelman caught 10 passes for 141 yards, with eight going for first downs. He had catches on both of the Patriots’ scoring drives.
Edelman also had one carry for 8 yards.
He beat out defensive teammates Dont’a Hightower and Stephon Gilmore as well as running back Sony Michel. Hightower had two sacks, Gilmore a sack and a forced fumble and Michel rushed for 94 yards and the game’s only touchdown.
“He deserves it,” Brady told CBS’ Jim Nantz in the postgame ceremony. “That was one of the best games he’s ever played.”
Edelman now ranks second all-time in playoff receiving yards with 1,412. Only Jerry Rice, with 2,245, has more.
It was quite a season for Edelman as he began it with a four-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs. He finished the regular season with 74 catches for 850 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games and then caught 26 passes for 388 yards in three postseason games.
“Sometimes the cookie crumbles that way,” Edelman said of winning the MVP. ". . .It just matters that we won, man. It was a crazy year.”