Julian Edelman keeps a constant eye on his alma mater, but helping Kent State pay players might be too expensive for the NFL veteran.
“I’m always semi-involved with Kent State football,” Edelman told _Front Office Sports Today_. “Call back to get a recruit here or there. I love Kent and my road started through Kent. So I always have an appreciation for them.
“The NIL stuff that I mean, that’s a Wild West right now. You drive into Georgia and all these other schools—I mean, it looks like an NFL parking lot. You see a Lambo here. You see a Ferrari there. It’s outrageous.”
The former Kent State standout carved out a remarkable NFL career despite being a 5-foot-10 quarterback coming out of Kent State. Edelman made $46 million in his 12 NFL seasons as a wide receiver with the Patriots, according to Spotrac.
Edelman added that he’s not opposed to helping college athletes out, but would be more interested in teaching players how to grow a post-playing media career. (Edelman retired after the 2020 season and has been hosting his _Dudes on Dudes_ podcast with former teammate Rob Gronkowski since last year.)
“For me individually, getting into NIL, I think there’s definitely avenues where you could partner up with a lot of these young kids and create a podcast with someone who’s in the game,” Edelamn said on _FOST_. “I would be more on that side of it…In this day and age, there’s a lot of different verticals for these young athletes where they can go out and create something for themselves. So if I could help a lot of these young guys be entrepreneurs, I’d love that.”