Ray Edwards (American football)

Edwards was drafted as the 127th pick (4th round) of the 2006 NFL draft.[2] During his rookie season, he appeared in 15 of the 16 regular season games, (the most for a Vikings rookie that year) and started in 2 of the last 4 games. He recorded 3 sacks and 10 tackles. In 2007 Edwards had 5 sacks and 30 tackles in 12 games. He scored one touchdown on a fumble recovery against Detroit. On December 5, Edwards was suspended for four games by the National Football League for a violation of the league's Steroid policy. He was not eligible to play for the remainder of the Vikings regular season.[3] In 2008 Edwards made 55 tackles and 5 sacks as the starting left defensive end after the acquisition of Jared Allen. In 2009, Edwards had a breakout year, recording 8.5 sacks, and having a strong performance against the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional Round of the post-season. Edwards became a restricted free agent in the 2010 offseason due to the CBA dispute instead of an unrestricted FA as he would have been if there were a labor agreement. The Vikings gave him a first-round restricted free agent tender. He signed the tender on June 14, 2010 after deciding to miss the Vikings offseason program.[4]

On July 29, 2011, Edwards was signed by the Atlanta Falcons to a five-year contract for 30 million dollars with 11 million dollars guaranteed. During the Falcons' 8-1 start in 2012, Edwards was largely invisible, with most of his snaps being taken by players with much lower salaries.[5]

Edwards was released by the Falcons on November 12, 2012.[6]