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The greatest wide receiver of all time has high praise for Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman.

Jerry Rice was asked on NFL Network to name the wide receiver with the best footwork in the NFL, and he chose Edelman.

“You’re not going to be able to cover him,” Rice said of Edelman, via NBCSportsBoston.com. “You can’t do it. He’s going to be able to get separation from you and make the catch.”

Rice also admires Edelman for not being afraid to go over the middle.

“What I like about him too is his physicality,” Rice said. “He throws his body all over the field.”

Edelman has rarely been named in the same company as Rice among the NFL’s all-time greats, but in February Edelman joined Rice on the list of wide receivers to win the Super Bowl MVP award, and that led to some talk that Edelman could make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Rice sounds like he would endorse that.