1.05 WR Braylon Edwards, Cleveland

[Philadelphia Freedom]

Everyone wants a RB, however with the fifth pick it is hard to pass on a player that many felt was the best player in the draft. With that in mind the Freedom select Braylon Edwards.

Edwards, has obvious talent and a freakish work ethic. While he watches TV in the evening, he'll do flexibility work, or sit-ups or pushups. He refuses to just lie down on the couch. He noticed how Jerry Rice would run just as hard in practice as in games, and that became Edwards' approach at Michigan. That's why he wore Rice's No. 80 his first two years in Ann Arbor. That's why sometimes he'd head to the track, after practice, and run extra sprints by himself. That's why Michigan coach Lloyd Carr says no one is as gung ho as Braylon Edwards.

His dad, who used to play for the Oilers and Lions, introduced him to the Rams' Torry Holt, and Holt took him out to the field to tutor him. Holt let him have it, too, critiqued his pass patterns, and Edwards wasn't offended at all. Now, every day, he's working on hitches and digs and post corners, working on disguising his routes. He's proud to have Randy Moss's downfield speed, but also wants the route-running feet of Marvin Harrison.

Of course the knock on Edwards is that he drops a ball (or three). While you never want to make excuses, our pre-draft research allowed the Freedom to find out that Edwards often is so hyper before games, he can not sleep. That, the night before games, he'll call his mother and father at 2 a.m., wide awake. That, because of it, he tends to drop passes early in games, because he's still foaming at the mouth. "I'll never forget his first Notre Dame game, he was hyperventilating; his mouth was caked white. Took him a whole quarter to come down. So he'll drop the first or second ball to him sometimes. It's like clockwork almost. Gets it out of his system."

[Preds]

Nice write-up and analysis, probably the player to go at this pick. I hope he works out for you better than Rogers did (I think he will).

[Brain Dead Squirrel Chasers]

I'm high on Braylon as well. But something about Cleveland makes me feel sad for him, like he'll never be able to live up to his true potential there.......

Cleveland, where football players go to pasture........