With the trade of Braylon Edwards from the Cleveland Browns to the New York Jets, a malcontent receiver was freed from the football purgatory of Cleveland and has landed in the big city lights of New York. To many this wasn't a huge surprise. Besides maybe Brandon Marshall, I'm not sure if there was a more openly "unhappy" receiver in the NFL. For the last 4+ seasons he's had to suffer through the inconsistent quarterback play, the lack of a running game, and the overall losing culture in Cleveland. Moving from the 0-4 Browns to the upstart 3-1 Jets should prove to be all the motivation he needs to step up his game.Ah, if it were just that easy. Get traded from a bad team to a good team and immediately find success. So many people like to point to Randy Moss and say "look, he went from being a headcase for the Oakland Raiders to being a team player and an elite wide receiver for the New England Patriots, Edwards will surely do the same thing." However, I have some real issues with this reasoning. F
irst of all, Moss had already put up great numbers with the Minnesota Vikings before being traded to the Raiders. So far in his short NFL career, Edwards has produced only one All-Pro season. Secondly, when Moss came over to New England, he had Tom Brady throwing passes to him. Although many believe Mark Sanchez to be the second-coming of Joe Namath, I think we would all agree that he's still a rookie quarterback with just four starts to his credit. He's not going to hit every read and deliver a perfect ball over the top and do all of the little things that come with experience. And lastly, he's coming on to a team in the middle of the season. This isn't like baseball where you can just suit-up, get inserted in the lineup, and go stand out in the outfield. Moss was traded during the off-season and had several months and a full training camp to get on the same page with Brady. It's going to ta
ke Edwards at least a few weeks to get up to speed on the offensive system in New York.Let's be honest, there's no doubt that Edwards is in a much better situation in New York than he was in Cleveland, but let's not all get too far ahead of ourselves. He's probably not going to produce right away. But down the road, if the Jets can continue to play well, he could start to become a factor. And if Sanchez develops into the quarterback that many believe he can be, then perhaps we will start to talk about the Sanchez-Edwards combination among the leagues best quarterback/receiver tandems. But until that happens, let's have a quick reality check and remember that he hasn't proven anything yet.
Fantasy Impact: Obviously, the prospects of Edwards producing relevant fantasy numbers this season improved significantly with the trade to the Jets. He'll eventually be the #1 target in a very good, strong, balanced offense. But for the first 3-5 weeks, I wouldn't expect much more than 2-4 catches a game for 40-60 yards and maybe a TD. But later in the season, Edwards could be a fantasy boon if he and Sanchez start to make sweet music together through the air. If you need help in other areas on your team, I don't see his trade value getting any higher than it is right now, so maybe now you should be looking into some possible trade opportunities.
