FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Frank Edelman had good reason to cut his day of work short on Tuesday at A-1 Auto Tech Inc. in Mountain View, California. Who wouldn't want to see their son featured on ESPN's E:60 program?

A segment of the show was devoted to the story of his son Julian's remarkable rise as the New England Patriots' No. 1 receiver and quarterback Tom Brady's trusted go-to guy. A big part of the feature was Frank's influence and the bond between father and son.

But to no surprise, Frank didn't cut his work day short on Tuesday. Instead, recorded the program, worked until closing and watched it later that evening.

He always preached an honest day's work to his son, and that doesn't change now, even as more accolades and national attention come his son's way.

Julian Edelman will once again be under the national spotlight Thursday night against the Miami Dolphins (CBS, 8:25 p.m. ET), and like his father, he plans to put in an honest day's work. It's the only way he knows how to do it, an approach drilled into him at an early age and one that helped him at a time when his NFL career was teetering on the brink.

That time, as hard as it might be now for some to believe, was less than three years ago.

Julian Edelman has become a trusted and critical part of the New England offense. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Edelman had played four seasons with the Patriots and was a free agent entering the 2013 season, and no one was making him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"It was a very defining time," Frank Edelman said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "We didn't know what to think; you're really uncertain, scared and concerned, because you didn't know if the end is there."

As it turned out, Edelman was just getting started on what has been a two-and-a-half-year explosion as one of the NFL's most productive receivers over that span. He has 242 receptions since the start of the 2013 season, which is the third highest total in the NFL behind Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown (285) and Denver's Demaryius Thomas (251).

When that happens, you quickly become a player opposing coaches devise a game plan for and talk about on a weekly basis -- which again is the case this week with interim Dolphins coach Dan Campbell.

"He's an impact player for them, and you can go on and on about the guy," Campbell said, pointing out the dilemma defenses have in deciding between double-covering him or tight end Rob Gronkowski, because choosing one means the other can feast on single coverage. "Smart player, a quick guy, and he'll be where he needs to be. He's tough to cover."

How opponents are approaching that challenge, and the respect that the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Edelman is garnering from them, was most recently illustrated on Sunday, when the New York Jets had cornerback Darrelle Revis shadow him on most third-down plays. The increased attention from top players like Revis has produced some up-and-down moments for Edelman. He dropped a would-be touchdown pass with Revis trailing him in the third quarter but delivered one of the key plays in the fourth quarter on a 27-yard catch over the middle on third-and-17 when the Jets were playing zone.

There were similar highs and lows the week before against the Indianapolis Colts, when Edelman's injured pinkie seemed to affect him on a bobbled pass that was intercepted by safety Mike Adams and returned for a touchdown. That was before Edelman responded later in the game with a terrific individual effort on a fourth-and-1 rush, during which he should have been stopped for a loss but instead moved the sticks.

Edelman, who has dropped a league-high six passes this season on 65 targets, according to ESPN Stats & Information, knows he needs to play with more consistency. He also is aware that with more attention comes more scrutiny.

That's a much different place for him than two-and-a-half years ago when Edelman accepted a one-year, $1.015 million incentive-filled contract to return to New England that included no guaranteed money and a reduced salary if Edelman landed on season-ending injured reserve. Only the Patriots and Giants had expressed any tangible level of interest in signing him, with New York viewing him more as a punt returner.

At that point, the knock on Edelman was whether he could stay healthy after coming off a foot injury.

"His first year, he caught 37 passes. Then the next three years, I don't think he caught 37 total," recalled Bill Belichick of Edelman's 2010-2012 seasons, in which he amassed 32 catches combined. "Some of it is opportunity. His case, some of it was definitely health, which affected his production some of those lesser productive years."

So Edelman returned to New England, and when fellow receiver Danny Amendola injured his groin in the 2013 opener and missed four of the next six games, it opened the door to become Brady's trusted go-to guy. He's blasted through it and never looked back -- totaling 105 receptions that season, then scoring a lucrative four-year, $19 million contract in 2014 -- as his sharp cuts and ability to get in and out of his breaks smoothly are trademark traits.

Edelman knows it might not have unfolded this way had he been with another team.

"I’m just fortunate enough to be in a system, in a franchise, that uses me,” he said in a recent interview on sports radio WEEI. “I’m a New England Patriot and that’s all I care about.”

Brady, for his part, regularly marvels at Edelman's toughness and sees similarities between his own career as an underdog sixth-round pick and Edelman's journey as a long shot seventh-rounder. That has contributed to the strong bond between them, and it helped when Edelman moved to Los Angeles to train with Brady, as he said in the E:60 feature.

The two once again lead the Patriots into action tonight, and a national audience awaits, the second time in three days the hard-grinding Edelman will be front and center.

Time to put in another honest day's work.