Getty Former Las Vegas Raiders WR Bryan Edwards.
New Las Vegas Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler has made it clear that he’s not afraid to make deals in his first few months with the team. He’s already pulled off trades for Davante Adams, Rock Ya-Sin and Jarrett Stidham. He wasn’t done with those trades either.
According to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Raiders are trading wide receiver Bryan Edwards to the Atlanta Falcons.
The @Raiders are trading wide receiver Bryan Ewards to the Atlanta Falcons. Terms not disclosed.
It was becoming more and more apparent that Edwards could be an odd man out for the Raiders as they traded for Adams and signed Mack Hollins, Demarcus Robinson and Keelan Cole this offseason. Edwards had many opportunities after being a third-round pick by the team in 2020. He started off last year strong and ended the season with 571 receiving yards and averaged 16.8 yards per reception. However, he would often disappear in games and had trouble consistently getting open. He has the talent to be a very good wide receiver but things just weren’t working out in Las Vegas so Ziegler decided to trade him away while he still had value.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Raiders are sending a 2023 seventh-round pick with Edwards to the Flacons for a 2023 fifth-round pick.
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Jon Gruden Compared Edwards to Terrell Owens
The Raiders were very high on Edwards coming out of South Carolina. NFL insider Adam Caplan even said that Edwards might be looked at as one of the best wide receivers from the 2020 draft class a few years down the road. Former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden went so far as to compare the wide receiver to Hall of Famer Terrell Owens.
“Edwards has great ability,” Gruden said last year, via NFL.com. “He’s got great ability. I’m excited about him. You see he looks like T.O., he looks like one of the number one wideouts in the league.”
Edwards always put together great training camps but it just didn’t translate to games. He’s a big body at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds but he has to work on his ability to get open. If his route running can improve, there’s no doubt he can be an impact player. This is a smart trade for the Falcons as all they had to do was swap late-round picks with the Raiders.
2020 Draft Class Just Keeps Looking Worse
The Raiders’ 2020 draft class was already one of the worst a team has ever made. Lynn Bowden and Tanner Muse were traded before ever playing a snap with the team while Henry Ruggs was released after his involvement in a fatal car crash. Damon Arnette was later cut after threatening to kill somebody through social media.
Edwards was the one player who could’ve redeemed the draft class but now he’s off to Atlanta.
John Simpson and Amik Robertson are still on the team but both could feasibly be bench players this season. It’s now easy to understand why owner Mark Davis decided to move on from general manager Mike Mayock despite making the playoffs last season.
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