NY Times Article: Edwards

For Edwards, Productivity and Patience Take Hold

By GREG BISHOP

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The more Braylon Edwards talked, the more he sounded humbled, sounded changed. He called 2010 his best season and said he traded statistics for team unity in hope of shifting the perceptions that have shadowed him.

But Edwards’s season is not that simple. With Edwards, nothing is.

“I approached this as a big year for me,” he said. “I have to do whatever it takes for Braylon Edwards to succeed, for Braylon Edwards to be wanted by somebody, for Braylon Edwards to stay a Jet.”

As Edwards trafficked in the third person, he reclined in a leather chair, an iPad resting in his hands. Those were the surest hands of any Jets receiver this season. He tapped his first word onto a virtual Scrabble board, and in nothing more than a coincidence, the word he chose was venom, good for 28 points.

Over six N.F.L. seasons, Edwards has drawn that word, received that word, even felt, at times, that word, in response to his reputation. Yet this season, his most productive, perhaps his most important, Edwards seems to have found his happy place.

For every night, that is, but one.

“I’m getting older,” the 27-year-old Edwards said. “Let’s be real. I’m not a kid anymore. I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen good. I’ve seen bad. I’ve seen the right way. I’ve seen the wrong way. I’ve done it the right way. I’ve done it the wrong way. This season, it’s about respect. It’s about my name. I’ve done everything 100 percent right.

“Except for that situation.”

Ah, “that situation,” the night in September when Edwards added a permanent asterisk to a season otherwise signifying progress. The Jets dominated the Patriots the night before Edwards was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Manhattan and reached his low point. Not of this season. Of his life.

Edwards spent 12 hours in jail, mostly by himself, in a cell the size of a bathroom, with a toilet and a bench. He tried to sleep and failed. Instead, he reflected, but not in the way Edwards said others have since portrayed it.

“People take the wrong idea,” he insisted. “Like, he needed to change his life around. It wasn’t a revelation of that magnitude. It was more, what I can I do to make sure I’m never here again? Not, I’m living terribly, how do I change my life?”

Still, Edwards believes, resolutely, that he is a different person. But he would separate the change and the arrest into unrelated categories.

He caught 53 passes for 904 yards and 7 touchdowns during the regular season, a far cry from his blockbuster campaign in 2007, when he had 80 catches for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns. But Henry Ellard, his position coach and a former All-Pro receiver, said Edwards made strides in several areas. They included blocking, route running, eliminating drops and, perhaps most important, patience.

Edwards admitted he found this process difficult. His DNA is that of a No. 1 receiver. He wants the ball. He needs the ball. He clamors for the ball.

This season, Edwards resisted his natural impulse, buried his frustration. He took his turns, the way Santonio Holmes took his turns, the way Dustin Keller took his turns, without complaint. Edwards said he learned from watching LaDainian Tomlinson, a future Hall of Fame running back who split carries all season with Shonn Greene.

As Edwards focused on blocking, as he repeated drills for hours after practice, Ellard saw a transformation. Edwards did not drop passes, did not disrupt the harmony in the locker room, did not air complaints in the news media. Instead, Ellard said Edwards became a complete receiver, which Ellard meant as the highest compliment.

Yet, Edwards continues to doubt that the public idea of who he is, as a person and a receiver, is all that different from that of the disgruntled Edwards who was traded from Cleveland in October 2009. At times, he felt overshadowed by the star power that surrounded him on the Jets. He also felt singled out for the arrest.

“Let’s face it,” Edwards said. “I’m not the only athlete to get a D.U.I. I’m not the only athlete to get one this year. But you don’t hear about the other ones because they’re in situations that don’t really matter. Not to disrespect them, but nobody cares about those teams.”

While Edwards may be misguided at times, winning, he said, helped him ignore the critics. Football felt fun again. His stress level went down, and he played carefree, unburdened and better.

Edwards showcased his emotion after playoff wins against Indianapolis and New England, when he performed back flips on the field in celebration.

Late in the fourth quarter against the Colts, Edwards lobbied the coaches into a deep sideline pass on third-and-5. The resulting reception led the Jets 18 yards closer to the game-winning field goal as time expired. Edwards picked that play as his signature moment of the season because it proved so pivotal and because the offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer trusted his judgment.

As the season wound down, Edwards started to think about his contract, a one-year deal that expires at season’s end. He wants to return next season, but his agents and the Jets have not progressed beyond “small talk,” and General Manager Mike Tannenbaum faces similar decisions in regard to Holmes, Antonio Cromartie, David Harris and Brad Smith. Edwards said he would not sign another one-year deal.

“That’s about proving yourself,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done that. So if it wasn’t good enough for them, we’ll have to take it elsewhere.”

On Sunday, in the A.F.C. championship game, Edwards will return to Pittsburgh, where he had 8 catches for 100 yards in the Jets’ victory on Dec. 19. The game will serve as another audition, for a different player, but not necessarily a redemptive one.