Glad to hear reports like this on Edwards since I had a feeling the guy is a perfect fit for this team. Last year he had no practice with the team, and Sanchez sucked a good part of the regular season. Naysayers here and elsewhere made too much of what actually were a small number of drops. He had his problems in Cleveland, but guess what - sometimes that's not the player's fault. I expect him to be huge for this team this coming year. The guy has unbelievable talent.
No lie, I got to the end and my first thought was "Rich CIMINI wrote this!?!" I think you were with me right from the start in believing that Edwards was our key to the playoffs. As you said, sometimes it's not a specific player's fault for his problems. Let's look at Cleveland. Their GM is replaced, their coach (who we all know) is on the hot seat, and not only did they get rid of both QBs that formerly threw to Braylon, but they brought in a guy who was getting the majority of the blame for Carolina's problems to "solve" their QB problem. It's no wonder that a guy with honest talent is working hard and looking impressive. Plus, we don't have Rhodes here anymore to tell him that if he's good "he chill."
Hillarious that I thought the exact same thing, then see that at least 3 other people were thinking it. Priceless. Seriously, football season needs to start NOW! I'm going thru hard core withdrawl.
Yeah, I don't follow the Browns much. Heh. But we all knew what Mangini was like, and they had a qb controversy and as you said both are now gone - qb controversy because both sucked. So Edwards didn't have a great year for those guys. It's a team game, a single player can't do it all and a receiver can't throw the ball to himself. I just see the guy race down the field and go up for the ball like we haven't had on this team for a Loooonnng time. Course we couldn't have used him when Chadwick was here, but let's just forget about that. Bad memories. He opens up the running game, too. I don't know I guaranf'ingtee it, but I would be VERY surprised if Holmes does better than Edwards this year.
Have a few cookies, some ice cream, and maybe a can of Spagetti-Os and come back to it. It's a good article. Agree with what's been said about Braylon, but also happy to hear Kenwin Cummings getting some love from Rex. He's mentioned him twice this past week. This kid has done nothing but impress me during preseason. Obviously he was in against 2nd and 3rd teamers, but the guy can play football. It's nice to have some young depth--especially guys we didn't even need to use a draft pick on...that's good scouting.
Braylon Edwards is a fairly solid player and a good receiver when he has a good QB throwing to him. He's not a star player because he can't carry any load at all but he's definitely somebody who can contribute to a good team if it's there around him. I'd be shocked if the Jets give him a contract at the end of the year. Assuming Santonio Holmes shows up to play and stays out of trouble he's the keeper, because he can carry a load when he has to.
Not to sound argumentative, but I think you're completely wrong on this one. I expect Edwards to be a star this year, not simply look like one. I'll even so far as to say I think he'll actually win at least two games for us. Braylon is going to make it very hard on Tannenbaum to decide which guy gets to stay. That's not even counting the 4 game lead Edwards will have on Holmes.
Alio, Well we definitely have our markers down with the doubters. Guess we will see who's right. I think we will be. Heh.
I'm in the same camp. Santonio has proven he is a big game WR. Braylon has a small amount of drops that come in big spots in the end zone. I choose Holmes over Edwards too.
You can make a pretty good argument either way. The reason I lean into the Holmes over Edwards camp is that by early prime, which is where both players are at this point, the thing most likely to tell you where a player is going to go in the next season is looking at where he has been. For whatever reasons, Edwards has been a very inconsistent player in his career, whereas Holmes has been steadily productive. The odds favor that situation continuing next year, although the fact that both are in contract years makes for interesting dynamics from the standpoint of the front office. Edwards could indeed come out blazing, knowing that he's fighting for a big contract since his snaps will likely decrease if he's not performing very well when Homes returns from the suspension. However the mental aspect of the game has been challenging for him, and it will never be more challenging than in the first 4 games of next season. We'll see.
Look at where they played though. Santonio has played in a winning environment with good coaching staff since he's been in the league. Braylon's been stuck in Cleveland his entire career where he's had to deal with inept head coaches and front offices that can't even handle a staph infection the right way. Cleveland is practically a minor league team where whenever they get a few good players they trade them to better orginizations.
That's exactly where my position comes from. He had atrocious coaching and only when Anderson was having the year of his life did he not play with horrid QBing. Until he came here, where he got a late start with a rookie QB. This is Braylon's shot to show who he really is. I'm confident he's going to make that splash. In the end though, I hope we're still arguing over who to keep next February. That will mean they were both great, which is best-case scenario for us.
