Falcons agree to 5-year deal with DE Ray Edwards
FLOWERY BRANCH – The Falcons hope there is a new “Big Play Ray” in town.
Minnesota Vikings defensive end "Big Play" Ray Edwards has agreed to a five-year deal with the Falcons. Air Blank One is leaving at 6:01 p.m. to scoop him up and retun him to Flowery Branch. (Associated Press)
Defensive end Ray Edwards agreed to terms on a five-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons on Friday. The original “Big Play Ray” is former defensive back Ray Buchanan, who played with the Falcons from 1997 to 2003, and was on the franchise’s only Super Bowl team.
One of the team’s glaring deficiencies has been the pass rush. They are hoping that Edwards will help close the gap on the Green Bay Packers in the NFC. They hope he will balance the field and provide a pass rush opposite of Pro Bowl defensive end John Abraham.
On a day when the team released defensive end/tackle Jamaal Anderson, the Falcons reached a deal with Edwards. The former Purdue standout has 29 sacks in five seasons. He had eight sacks last season and 8.5 in 2009.
The Falcons were interested in Edwards after the draft. But they later cooled on him and pursued Carolina’s Charles Johnson. The Falcons backed out when the Panthers made a lucrative offer to Johnson, the former Georgia standout from Hawkinsville.
Entering free agency, Mel Kiper Jr. had Johnson as the top-rated defensive end available and Edwards was rated second.
“Finished second on the Vikings with eight sacks, teaming with Jared Allen to form one of the top pass rushing tandem at DE in the league,” Kiper wrote in his 2011 Free Agency Data Sheet. “But it was an uneven year for Edwards as he managed just 1.5 sacks in their first seven games.”
Kroy Biermann started at left defensive end last season and had three sacks. The Falcons also have Chauncey Davis, Lawrence Sidbury, Cliff Matthews and Emmanuel Stephens on the roster.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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425 comments Add your comment
Von Trapp
July 30th, 2011
1:10 pm
Das Edwards vill help das defense greatly das years
hiramsaint
July 30th, 2011
1:16 pm
@ 284- if you have a d that the saints and the packers exploited in your own house and you kept them , then how are they better? no up grade except a d.e.? don’t you think otherteams will take saint and packer film , and exploit your #16 d even further? it is so clear a blind man can see it. we have a new d.t.-lbs’ cb’s and so on and now with a new and explosive running game to go with our awesome pass attack , the failcans will only be able to battle with the bucs for #2 . the nfc south was won by us in the draft in f/a and soon on the field. face it , the failcans have been post season losers and now their opportunity has been squandered. the nfl wants legit team in the post season and that team is the saints
Caleb
July 30th, 2011
1:19 pm
Ok guys, enough arguing, the Saints and the Falcons both have there weaknesses, and both have there strength. It will come down to who wins on the field, please just stop arguing
hiramsaint
July 30th, 2011
1:22 pm
caleb- do we know you? we’ve been arguing for two years and we’re suppose to stop ’cause you say so? go shine my daddies shoes newbie. this is what we do- what we’ve done and what we will continue to do . don’t like it?-go somewhere else
Caleb
July 30th, 2011
1:25 pm
Heu im not here to step on any ones shoes. But yall can argue if ya want to. Im just saying that they both are strong and weak and i asked you. Didnt tell you to
Reality Check
July 30th, 2011
2:06 pm
The Eagles have owned the Falcons before all the pick ups the Eagles have made…………….
Just saying
hiramsaint
July 30th, 2011
2:11 pm
any team in the playoffs have owned the failcans
Huh?
July 30th, 2011
2:20 pm
So, UGA 1999 where’s the “announcement”?
bgfalcon
July 30th, 2011
2:40 pm
^^^ he was playing us lol
DawgsnFalcons
July 30th, 2011
3:22 pm
2:00PM has come and gone. Where are my other two huge moves?
UG[sic]A1999
July 30th, 2011
3:35 pm
Breaking News!! Both Matt Ryan and Curtis Lofton took massive bowel movements at 2:00 pm today. Look for an article from d-led about these huge offensive and defensive splashes.
hiramsaint
July 30th, 2011
4:12 pm
now that was funny!
Greg Moundine
July 30th, 2011
4:45 pm
Eagles just signed Cullen Jenkins! Falcons, let’s not forget We play Eagles our first game at home! Go get get Moss, TO, someone. We need explosiveness! We must counter. To tell you the truth, I only see one move by Falcons and that is Edwards.
Greg Moundine
July 30th, 2011
4:53 pm
Hell, get in the game with Burress!
Huh?
July 30th, 2011
5:04 pm
1999 played us like a worn out sock…
Greg Moundine
July 30th, 2011
5:10 pm
now they are saying Burress o Eagles possibility
Greg Moundine
July 30th, 2011
5:12 pm
They putting together a N.Y. Yankees team, but will be like Washington Redskins
Von Trapp
July 30th, 2011
6:17 pm
Caleb
I agree with you as das posters take das game way too serious. Ve will find das answers on das field. Ve will have a great Falcons season das year, in mine opinions
Bobby Petrino
July 30th, 2011
6:25 pm
“Things that I wanted to go over with him,” Blank said. “It’s more me understanding and making sure I’m clear on his logic.”
SeenThisB4
July 30th, 2011
6:38 pm
Didn’t the Eagles Kick the Falcan’ts ass last year? 31-17? Might be 62-17 this year. I guess falcan’t fans will start leaving by the end of the first quarter, assumming they have even arrived by then.
KQuark
July 30th, 2011
7:18 pm
Yup called it yesterday when they dropped Anderson.
Ken Strickland
July 30th, 2011
7:33 pm
I’m looking to hear something on Monday about the status of us resigning CB BGrimes, OG JBlalock and RB JSnelling. We’ve been hearing rumors about Snelling signing elsewhere, but nothing about Grimes or Blalock, which is a very good sign. I don’t seee us letting Blalock go because replacing both he and Dahl would seriously deplete our OL depth and experience.
I believe that resigning Blalock and moving him to the R-side, along with replacing him on the L-side with MJohnson, would be an overall OL upgrade. Blalock and Clabo would add some serious size, strength and run blocking power on our strong side. Adding MJohnson, who’s probably quicker, faster, more athletic, and a better pass blocker than Blalock, would be an improvement in our pass protection on the weakside.
I also believe HDahl signed so quickly with St Louis because he was informed that the Falcons made resigning Blalock the bigger priority. That, and the fact Blalock hasn’t been linked with any other team, is why I’m convinced we’ll resign Blalock. I feel the same holds true for CB BGrimes as well. If RB JSnelling is to return as a Falcon, he’ll have to accept a less than market value contract.
Dahl signing with the Rams will give us a decent supplemental draft pick next yr.
SaintsFansAreFunny
July 31st, 2011
1:14 am
Hmmm… my posts won’t post
SaintsFansAreFunny
July 31st, 2011
1:58 am
For some reason, this site won’t let me post a list. Anyway, I just wanted to say that the Saints were not the #4 defense in the NFL last year. They were #4 in Total Net Yards, which is a pretty meaningless stat in Football. The most important job of the defense is to stop the other team from scoring points. The only stat that matters is Points Allowed. The Falcons defense held offenses to the 5th fewest points in the NFL. That is better than the Jets and the Saints. The Saints are the 7th ranked defense in the NFL, not the 4th. All that means is it took teams fewer yards to score MORE points against the Saints. Seriously the media has no clue how good the Falcons defense is. All I hear are negative comments about them, but they did their job better than 27 other teams in the NFL.
SaintsFansAreFunny
July 31st, 2011
2:04 am
If you are not certain that Points Allowed is the most important stat for an NFL defense, 8 of the top 10 teams are playoff teams. The number 1 and 2 ranked teams played in the super bowl. Despite what the media, Saints fans and (sadly) most Falcon fans believe, they had a really good defense last year. They played a bend but don’t break style defense to get the most out of the players they had which is why the allowed more yards. However, I don’t care if offenses gain 900 yards against our defense as long as they don’t score. As I said before, all this shows is that it took teams a lot less yards to score more points on the Saints than it did the Falcons. That is not something to brag about.