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Adam Schefter
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ESPN Senior Writer
- ESPN NFL Insider
- Joined ESPN in 2009
- Former president of the Pro Football Writers of America and the author of four books
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Adrian Wojnarowski
New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman will make his 2018 season debut on Thursday vs. the Indianapolis Colts, per a league source, marking his return from a four-game suspension and the ACL he tore in August 2017.
Edelman can thank, in part…the Boston Celtics.
Edelman has spent time working out at the Celtics’ new training facility in Boston, sources tell ESPN. Edelman spent a significant number of mornings around the Celtics’ training staff and used the team’s Celtics weight room.
And he frequently played ping pong against Celtics star Gordon Hayward, who was a high school tennis champion in Indiana.
“He’s a good player,” Hayward texted ESPN. “I haven’t played against someone who moved like he did when he played. He was all over the place and low to the ground.”
Hayward thinks he beat Edelman 9-1 in games but as Hayward noted, “They were all close. It was fun getting a chance to hang out with him and compete in something. We were battling and by the end we would have an audience watching.”
On Thursday, Edelman also will have an audience watching — with Hayward be rooting for his hometown Colts. But this time he will playing his regular sport, against Indianapolis, on Thursday Night Football.