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New Jersey – The Seattle Seahawks don’t think that Braylon Edwards (hamstring) will be able to play the next three games.
“We thought he had a three-week injury or so,” Carroll said. “It would be a while for him to get back and we weren’t sure if he would make it back.”
It sounds like Carroll is trying to cover himself with Seahawks fans and the Seattle media.
His team is a playoff contender, so why release a quality receiver, even if was a backup, who could possibly help his club?
Obviously, the Seahawks are rock solid with their first three wide receivers – Sidney Rice, Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin.
But keep in mind, Baldwin is playing on a high ankle sprain and Rice has been very injury-prone throughout his NFL career.
The fourth and fifth receivers right now are Charly Martin, a 28-year-old wide-out with five career receptions, and rookie free agent, Jonathan Kearse, who has two catches this year.
I’m not saying Martin and Kearse don’t have talent, but wouldn’t you rather have Edwards as your fourth receiver, and as an insurance policy for Rice, Tate and Baldwin?
So clearly this is more than a hammy.
Braylon tends to wear out welcomes – he did in Cleveland, San Francisco, perhaps the Jets (DUI) and now Seattle.
He clearly was miserable in Seattle. We are talking about the third overall pick in the 2005 draft. This guy is a big-time talent, and Edwards could hardly get on the field in Seattle this year. He had a total of eight catches for the entire season.
You know darn well he was miserable, and he’s the kind of guy who has a hard time internalizing his feelings.
We all saw that last week when he ripped the Jets brass on twitter.
“Don’t blame Sanchez,” Edwards tweeted. “I played there. Blame the idiots calling shots. Mark is a beast and will [prove] it when given a proper chance.”
While I don’t agree with Edwards premise of Sanchez needing “a proper chance,” that’s not the point here. This was the tweet of a man who was very bitter in Seattle, where his talent was being wasted.
And he was venting at Mike Tannenbaum for not re-signing him after this 2010 season, and making him go out the last two years and have to beg for work, and then having two nondescript seasons with the 49ers and now the Seahawks.
What a waste for Edwards. Think about it – the last two years he was 27 and 28, the absolute prime of an NFL receivers career, and was cast in a backup role both seasons.
I’m not condoning Edwards calling people “idiots.” That isn’t language I would use.
But he has a right to be frustrated with Tannenbaum. There is no question in my mind the Jets should have signed Edwards over Santonio Holmes. He would have been cheaper, and while he can be a pain in the butt at times, he’s easier to deal with then Holmes.
And with his height (6-3) and wingspan, he’s more of a help to Sanchez, who struggles with accuracy more than the diminutive Holmes. With Edwards, Sanchez didn’t need to be as accurate – throw it to an area, and he will often figure out a way to make the grab.
But getting back to the Seattle injury situation – while he might have a hammy, my take is that Carroll wanted Edwards out of the building – when he’s not happy (and he had a right to be pissed), he can be an ornery guy. The Seahawks have a good thing going now. They don’t need that.
We will find out more tomorrow about Edwards and his hammy.
Keep in mind, Edwards wasn’t listed with this hamstring injury going into his final Seahawks game, so unless it happened in the Chicago game, it was an unlisted injury.
So it’s quite possible, when Edwards arrives in New Jersey, which probably happened today, the Jets will have to examine the hammy themselves.
I was under the impression, and sure a lot of you thought this way also, is it was his right knee that led to him being waived/injured.
This hammy might have caught the Jets by surprise as well.
We will see on Thursday.
December 12, 2012
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