Braylon Edwards Arrested for DUI, Is He Worth the Jets' Trouble?
New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested early this morning for drunk driving.
According to reports, Edwards was pulled over by New York police for having tinted windows in his Range Rover. The police smelled alcohol in the car and gave Edwards a breathalyzer test, which he failed by blowing a .16—twice the legal limit.
Edwards will be arraigned today and may face a league suspension in addition to his criminal charges.
The outspoken, but underperforming, receiver is the subject of much debate throughout the NFL. He has the skills to dominate at his position but lacks the attitude to make himself better.
He also has a history of off-field issues and has already burned bridges with one team, the Cleveland Browns. With this latest incident Edwards has likely guaranteed that he will be playing elsewhere next season, if at all.
There were several red flags surrounding the Jets' initial acquisition of Edwards from Cleveland in 2009. Some thought he'd be a poor fit in New York, some thought the Jets had given up too much to get him, and some thought he just wasn't that good in the first place.
Now Rex Ryan and the rest of Jets management will have to ask themselves the question: Is Braylon Edwards worth all the trouble?
The Michigan Wolverine
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Edwards was one of the most prolific receivers in the history of Michigan football.
He holds season records for yards and receptions, and career records for yards, receptions and touchdowns. The consensus All-American even won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation's best receiver.
All those accolades made Edwards an immensely attractive player to NFL scouts. His combination of size (6'3"), speed (4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash), and athleticism (38" vertical) is typical of elite NFL wideouts.
It came as no surprise, therefore, when the Cleveland Browns selected Edwards third overall in the 2005 draft.
The Cleveland Browns
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Edwards' career got off to a slow start in Cleveland, which included a lengthy holdout and a staph infection that knocked him out for several weeks.
Edwards was further hampered when he suffered a season-ending knee injury.
But in 2006, Edwards proved to his fans that he was capable of being a No. 1 receiver. He caught 61 passes for 884 yards, and six touchdowns.
In 2007 Edwards raised the bar even higher with 1,289 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. He was named to his first Pro Bowl.
NFL analysts were quick to put Edwards in select company among the NFL's top receivers, including Andre Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Chad Ochocinco, and Randy Moss.
However, Edwards followed his sensational 2007 season with a lackluster effort in 2008 in which he only caught three touchdowns, and led the NFL in dropped passes with 16.
Ever since, the football world has been waiting for Edwards to show that he's still worth the status of an elite NFL receiver.
They're still waiting.
Edwards with The Jets
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The Jets acquired Edwards midseason in 2009 for a package of players and draft picks, hoping to give rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez a powerful weapon that would make his adjustment to the NFL game smoother.
Edwards was good, but not great.
In 12 games with the Jets, Edwards had 35 catches for 541 yards and four touchdowns. He did have a memorable 80-yard catch in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, but for the season he was largely nothing more than an exaggerated decoy.
Jerricho Cotchery was the Jets leading receiver, and even tight end Dustin Keller received more looks than Edwards (although that doesn't take into account Edwards' drops).
Sure doesn't sound like a No. 1 receiver.
Nonetheless, the Jets remained intrigued by Edwards' talent, and this year decided to team him up with another head case in former Pittsburgh Steelers star Santonio Holmes.
Holmes is serving a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Edwards is sitting in a jail somewhere in New York.
Now what do the Jets do?
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The Troublemaker
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This may have been the first time Edwards has committed a felony, but he's still far from being a "Golden Boy."
After all, this is the same player who in 2006 dismissed the advice of his teammates and opted to attend a college football game between his alma mater and rival Ohio State, instead of showing up on time for a team meeting.
In 2009, Edwards was charged with a misdemeanor aggravated disorderly conduct for punching a man outside of a Cleveland nightclub. Fed up with Edwards' conduct and poor performance on the field, the Browns jumped at the opportunity to trade the receiver.
Now the Jets are getting their own taste of Braylon.
Just this Sunday Edwards was publicly reprimanded by his coach for receiving a taunting penalty after scoring a touchdown in a win over the New England Patriots.
"I love the way he played—he was really into it—but you're killing us," Rex Ryan said. "You can't put the team in that kind of jeopardy. I appreciate how passionate he is, but you don't want to be selfish. That's basically what that is."
Passionate? Maybe.
Selfish? Most definitely.
Can the Jets Get By Without Him?
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The Jets are a good team, and with or without Edwards, they seem poised for a playoff berth.
But Gang Green isn't just hoping for a playoff appearance. Rex Ryan and the rest of the Jets faithful want a Super Bowl, and they will need Braylon Edwards to get one.
Edwards is by no means an elite NFL receiver any more. But he's still better than the other players the Jets have on the roster, in particular Brad Smith and David Clowney.
A trio of Edwards, Holmes, and Cotchery gives Sanchez and the Jets the potential for a high-octane offense. Combined with running backs Shonn Greene and LaDanian Tomlinson (and a top-ranked defense), the Jets would have all the elements in place for a championship-caliber team.
Without Edwards, though, the Jets offense becomes rather average.
Holmes is capable of being a No. 1 receiver and Cotchery is a very good No. 2, but let's not forget that the quarterback is only in his second professional season.
If Sanchez were a seasoned veteran, he and the Jets could get by without Edwards lining up. (Just look at what Tom Brady did in 2006 with Reche Caldwell as his top receiver).
But Sanchez is not Brady, and he will need as many safety nets as he can find if the Jets hope to win it all.
Can The Jets Get By with Him?
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It's anyones guess if the Jets even want Edwards back on the roster after what happened today. But what if they were to welcome him back to the team?
Edwards has talent, that much is obvious. It'd be ignorant to say that the Jets offense would be better without him in the starting lineup.
But the team would.
The Jets have already suffered through the Darrelle Revis holdout, and the Ines Sainz scandal. The media was already criticizing them for acquiring guys with character issues like Edwards, Holmes, and cornerback Antonio Cromartie.
This latest incident is proving the media right.
A football team can endure a certain amount of questionable behavior and still be successful (see Randy Moss). But when you put enough oversized egos into one room, and Rex Ryan's counts as well here, then you're asking for there to be blood.
The Jets can bring Edwards back and go for it all. But in doing so they risk tearing apart a promising team and damaging a young quarterback's psyche.
It's not worth destroying a franchise that has been waiting for its chance to compete alongside today's other NFL juggernauts, just to see if a group of crazy football players can all get along long enough to win a few games.
There's always 2011, Jets fans.
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