Patriots Rumors: Julian Edelman 'Intends to Return' This Year from Knee Injury

New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman hasn't played since Week 7 due to a knee injury but "fully intends to return to play this season," according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. 

However, he is "still a couple of weeks" away from returning with only five games left in the regular season.

The 34-year-old was a force for much of his career while paired with Tom Brady in New England, with four seasons of 90 or more receptions—and three seasons exceeding 1,000 receiving yards—between 2013-19. That hasn't translated to 2020 and Cam Newton, however, as injuries and the Patriots' poor offensive chemistry in general have hurt his production. 

The result? Just 21 catches for 315 yards and zero scores this year. 

Granted, the aforementioned injuries have played a big role, with Edelman spending time on injured reserve after he underwent knee surgery in late October. It's been that kind of year for New England in general, as the team has uncharacteristically struggled and is just 5-6 entering Sunday.

Depth has been an issue for the Pats all season, as head coach Bill Belichick bemoaned to SiriusXM NFL Radio (h/t Mike Reiss of ESPN) in October:

"We're playing more young players than we've played in the past [for a] combination of reasons. We were pretty heavily invested in our team in the past few years. From a salary-cap standpoint, we didn't have much flexibility at all. I think that was obvious on the Cam Newton contract [one year, $1.05 million base salary].

"Then we had some opt-outs, so we lost some players there that would normally have been giving us significant amount of playing timeAnd then like every year, a couple guys are banged up and we've missed some guys here and there in certain games. I think when you combine it all together, there is opportunity there; some of that opportunity has gone to younger players."

That trend continues with Edelman still unavailable. Look for players such as Jakobi Meyers, N'Keal Harry and Damiere Byrd to play a bigger role in the passing game.