Braylon Edwards: A Study in Narcissism

Braylon Edwards just doesn’t get it. 

I kept telling myself that, sooner or later, Edwards would string together a couple of good decisions and become a productive member of the Cleveland Browns.

Today, I’m not so sure that’s going to happen. He does make good decisions every now and then, it’s just that they’re broken up by his insistent need to placate his own ego.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Edwards failed his physical upon reporting to the Browns training camp on Tuesday—one day late. What the ramifications of this situation could be still are unknown and I won't speculate at this time.

Don’t get me wrong, Edwards isn’t Terrell Owens or Plaxico Burress...at least not yet. My problem with Edwards is the fact that it isn’t singular—I have PROBLEMS with Edwards as a fan possessed of above average football intelligence.

His on-field difficulties last year catching the ball, the only thing he really was signed to do, have been well documented. Fan ire from his lack of production has elicited pouty, juvenile remarks from Edwards that served no purpose other than to make things worse.

His off-field antics, however, have rarely been bad enough to warrant more than a few paragraphs and an almost “Manny being Manny” type response from the majority of the peanut gallery.

But let’s run down the list of off-field distractions Edwards has gotten himself into (and out of) since joining Cleveland in 2005.

His first year with the Browns featured a holdout. This situation isn’t entirely unusual with first round picks, but it was a bad way to start his NFL career.

Next, Edwards bonded with Kellen Winslow, Jr., during the 2006 offseason while both were rehabbing injuries. Given Winslow’s self destructive behavior, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Winslow probably wasn’t the best role model for Edwards to bond with.

During the 2006 season, Edwards attended the Ohio State-Michigan game against the advice of Browns coaches and several team captains. This would indicate a complete lack of respect for the people he worked with at the time, and not something the current regime would tolerate.

The 2007 season seemed to be a watershed year for Edwards, who made the Pro Bowl and had a fantastic season. It seemed he had turned a corner and finally was maturing into the kind of player we all wanted him to be.

In fact, Edwards even had made several donations to his alma mater, Michigan, and to local Cleveland charities. This would seem to indicate he was beginning to realize there was a world beyond his own ego.

But then the calendar turned to 2008.

Edwards couldn’t catch much of anything last year, and seemed more interested in being on ESPN as a guest commentator on NFL Live than scoring touchdowns.

I vividly remember the Monday night game versus the Giants, the one game where everyone played up to their potential, and Edwards had stripped off his uniform and put on a headset for the postgame show before most of the team had even left the field.

Edwards couldn’t wait to tell the world how good he was that night. Too bad it never happened again, but it did show you where his priorities were. Edwards put self-promotion above the team.

Once the calendar turned to 2009, you’d think things might be different.

Nope.

Apparently, Edwards was having a huge party with Donte Stallworth just prior to Stallworth committing DUI manslaughter. While Edwards’ renting of a hotel room is commendable, his decision to blow thousands of dollars on alcohol and then let Stallworth leave point to lapses in judgment.

Now it’s training camp time and Edwards appears to be a day late and an ankle short, if the rumors of a basketball-related injury are to be believed.

Head coach Eric Mangini doesn’t believe in disclosing injuries, so we are left to guess. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just frustrating from an analytical standpoint when you’re trying to figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it.

Edwards appears to be on the same path cleared for him by receivers such as Terrell Owens, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, and Randy Moss.

All the above mentioned names have had great numbers, but those numbers have come with increasingly bizarre behavior that have resulted in poisoned locker rooms and lost seasons.

Owens is down to his last team. There will be no other takers for Owens if he self destructs in Buffalo.

Ochocinco hasn’t won anything and will have to be a much better teammate and player this year to justify any kind of new contract he might want no matter what name he chooses to use.

Moss is the only one who appears to have righted himself, but that’s after wearing out his welcome in Minnesota and Oakland.

When you’re too much of a distraction for the Oakland Raiders, that says something. But I’ll give credit where credit is due because Moss has been a good teammate in New England.

Hopefully, Mangini can work the same kind of magic on Edwards this year, if for no other reason than to have him healthy and productive before the trading deadline.

Edwards has to realize that even though he’s been to a pro bowl, teams have far lower tolerances these days for the oversized egos most wide receivers seem to have acquired since the early nineties.

The occasional lapses in judgment have a tendency to become more frequent and more egregious when there are no consequences—just ask Stallworth.

If Jerry Jones will cut a productive Terrell Owens, that means he would have no interest in signing the much younger and far less productive Braylon Edwards. If Edwards can’t figure that out, then his agent better beat it into his skull.

I don’t see Edwards staying with the Browns past this season, but if he’s going to be here, I want him on the field, ready to produce.

It is critical for Edwards that he not only catch the ball, but that he make the right decisions when he's not on the field. Otherwise, he'll be just another big sports ego doing the perp walk for ESPN cameras.