Tom Brady and Julian Edelman swap playful jests on Twitter

One of the best bromances in the NFL was on full-display Friday morning with Tom Brady and Julian Edelman interacting via their Twitter accounts.

Over the past 10 years, the bond between New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his favorite wide receiver, Julian Edelman, has grown significantly – both on and off the field. The two NFL superstars have spent extra time together getting in reps playing catch with the football, have dueled with lightsabers at Disneyland, and have made attending the Kentucky Derby together a somewhat-regular tradition.

Clearly, their partnership extends beyond the gridiron at this point… and not that it has to. When it comes to the unemotional X’s and O’s of playing professional football, few QB/WR pairings are more frequently in sync than Brady-to-Edelman during the regular season and especially in the playoffs.

Edelman began his NFL career way back in 2009 as a quarterback-turned-receiver who really got most of his action as a returner on special teams. Injuries to Wes Welker provided Edelman with more opportunities to get on the field as a pass-catcher, and the more snaps Edelman got, the more he made the most of his chance to impress his quarterback.

At this point, both Brady and Edelman are seasoned veterans at their respective positions. They know who they are and who they aren’t, just like they know their own strengths from their own weaknesses.

They also, apparently, know when it’s an opportune time to poke fun at one another.

Brady didn’t play in the Patriots’ fourth preseason game, a loss last night to the New York Giants. Edelman played sparingly in the first quarter before exiting with an injury scare (thankfully, he appears to be A-OK). The two Patriots spent most of the game on the sideline, and at one point, cameras caught Brady doing something just a bit… peculiar.

CBS Boston’s Michael Hurley shared this video of Brady doing some kind of bizarre stretching routine. Brady is of course famous for his commitment to pliability and flexibility in a sport that prioritizes speed and strength above all other qualities, so perhaps he was just using the extra time on the sideline to show anyone watching what he’s capable of after so much work with his own TB12 Center.

Brady must have come across Hurley’s tweet, because he had one of his own early Friday morning, in which he pointed out that Edelman seems to be laughing at him at the very end of the clip. In response, Brady tagged Edelman’s Twitter account and asked him, “What’s so funny?”

Edelman, realizing he had a golden opportunity to poke fun at his 42-year-old teammate, took the bait almost immediately by responding: “Idk Mr. Miyagi you tell me.”

For those who aren’t familiar with popular/legendary 80s cinema masterpieces, “Mr. Miyagi” was the Japanese-American martial arts master (played wonderfully by Pat Morita) who taught Ralph Macchio how to become the eponymous “Karate Kid” in the blockbuster film.

One of the most famous scenes in the movie is when the Karate Kid successfully defeats his arch-nemesis in a tournament using Miyagi’s difficult “Crane” kick move – a move that definitely bears some resemblance to at least the first part of what Brady was doing Thursday night.

Brady and Edelman jousting with one another on Twitter is certainly entertaining, and we should all be grateful for the fact they let us in on some of it today. After all, we know that as soon as the regular season begins, we’re going to get a whole lot less of this kind of tomfoolery – and that’s a good thing, too, as the Patriots will dial in and focus on winning a seventh title.