Trent Edwards (born October 30, 1983, in Los Gatos, California) is an Armenian-American professional quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Bills in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Stanford.Early years
Trent Edwards was a highly-rated recruit from Los Gatos High School and was ranked as the #1 pro-style quarterback by USA Today in 2001.[1] Rivals rated Edwards as the #2 pro-style quarterback and #20 player overall in its rankings.[2] He was recruited by Michigan, Florida, Notre Dame and Tennessee, but ultimately chose Stanford. In his junior and senior seasons at Los Gatos, he led the team to two undefeated seasons and back-to-back Central Coast Section Division III championships. In his senior year, he completed 154 of 213 passes for 2,535 yards, 29 touchdowns, three interceptions, and was named as a National Football Foundation Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete for Santa Clara County.
In his teens, Edwards participated in the Armenian-American Summer Games in Northern California.[3] Trent’s grandfather, Ben Morjig, was a co-founder of the games.[3]
College career
At Stanford, Edwards sat out his freshman year in 2002 so he could concentrate on his studies, and began 2003 behind starter Chris Lewis. After an impressive showing as a backup, Edwards got the start for four games, but was then sidelined with a shoulder injury for the rest of the season. In 2004, Edwards was the starter, but again suffered injuries that knocked him out of two games and kept him out of two others entirely. Edwards’ best year was 2005, where he started all 11 games, completed 168 of 268 passes for 1934 yards and 17 touchdowns, leading the Cardinal to a 5-6 record.[4]
In 2006, Edwards was the starter for the first seven games, but suffered a season-ending broken foot against Arizona and relinquished the starting role to T.C. Ostrander. Despite Stanford’s poor performance during his tenure as starting quarterback (the Cardinal was just 10-20 in games he started), Edwards was a highly-touted quarterback prospect in the 2007 NFL Draft due to his arm strength, accuracy, and intelligence. The summer before 2006, Edwards worked as a Synopsys intern. He decided to pass up a career in the electronic design automation industry for the NFL.[5] Prior to the draft, Mel Kiper projected Edwards as the third-best quarterback in the draft, behind JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn.[6]
NFL career
Edwards was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the third round with the 92nd overall pick. Edwards was a part of the Willis McGahee trade that sent McGahee to the Baltimore Ravens for the Ravens’ third-round pick in March 2007. After the draft, Bill Walsh, the Hall of Fame head coach contacted Bills General Manager Marv Levy to express his confidence in Edwards’ abilities.[7]
2007 Season
He made his NFL debut on September 23, 2007 in a game against the New England Patriots, after the Bills’ starter J. P. Losman was injured in the first quarter.
In his first game, Edwards completed 10 of 20 passes for 97 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. In his first NFL start on September 30, 2007 against the New York Jets, he made 22 of 28 passes for 234 yards with a touchdown and an interception, leading the Bills to their first win of the season. His first NFL touchdown was a one yard play-action pass on fourth and goal to Michael Gaines. In his second start, against the Dallas Cowboys, Edwards completed 23 of 31 pass attempts for 176 yards and an interception.
During the game against the New York Jets in week 8, Edwards sprained his right wrist, and was held out of the next game, allowing Losman to reclaim the starting job. In week 13, following a string of poor performances by Losman, Bills coach Dick Jauron named Edwards the starter against the Washington Redskins.[8] Edwards led the Bills to a victory over the Redskins in which he led his first fourth quarter comeback, completing three passes to set up the game-winning field goal. As a result, he was named the NFL Rookie of the Week.[9] The following week against the winless Miami Dolphins, he passed for 165 yards and a career high four touchdown passes to lead the Bills to a 38-17 win. Despite losing the last three games of the season, Edwards was named to the all-rookie team after the season was completed.
2008 Season
During the week 5 contest against the Arizona Cardinals on October 5, Edwards suffered a concussion as a result of a hard hit by Adrian Wilson on the third play of the game and did not return for the rest of the game. However, Edwards returned in the following game in week 7 against the San Diego Chargers and completed 25 of 30 passes in a 23-14 win. He selected as the FedEx Air Player of the Week for his performance.
In week 13, against the San Francisco 49ers, Edwards suffered a groin injury and did not return for the rest of the game. He was sidelined the following two games as a result of the injury. He returned for the final two games of the season. After a 5-1 start, the Bills missed the playoffs for the 9th straight season after losing 8 of the remaining 10 games.
2009 Season
Edwards’ 2009 season was further plagued by inconsistency and injuries. The Bills lost 4 of their first 5 games of season, during which Edwards’ play was noted as inconsistent, affected by poor performances by the Bills’ offensive line. Within the first 5 games, Edwards was sacked 18 times. Edwards’ worst performance during this time period was week 4 against the Dolphins in which he recorded a season low passer rating of 51.0, threw for a season game-high 3 interceptions, was sacked 6 times, and recorded his only fumble of the season. Critics accused Edwards of displaying consistent hesitation to make the deep throws downfield in order to fully utilize the deep threat abilities of Bills’ receivers Terrell Owens and Lee Evans. This resulted in mockery from Bills fans and unfairly earned him the nickname “Captain Checkdown.”[10]
On October 18, Edwards suffered a concussion early in the second quarter against the Jets as a result of a hit by Jets linebackers Harris and Pace. He did not return for the rest of the game, and missed the following two games. He returned after the bye week to start against the Tennessee Titans, but continued to struggle, at one point missing a wide-open Owens and then throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown.[11] He finished the game completing 18 of 28 passes for 185 yards with a touchdown and an interception, as the Bills were routed to a 41-17 loss.
Following the game against the Titans, Edwards was benched for the remaining 7 games in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick. He did not play for the rest of the season except for making a brief appearance during the week 15 game against the New England Patriots when he spelled Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter. Edwards completed 1 of 2 passes for -1 yards before being carted off the field, injuring his right knee as a result of a sack by Patriots defender Tully Banta-Cain.
