Ray Edwards was born on January 1, 1985, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended school at Woodward High School in Cincinnati, and lettered in football. Edwards was a two-year starter, and posted 12 sacks, 110 tackles and seven forced fumbles. Edwards does not come from an extensive family background in athletics. He has a cousin, Tyrone Hill, who played in the NBA for about 10 years. Hill played for the Golden State (1990-1993), Cleveland (1993-1997 & 2001-2003), Milwaukee (1997), Philadelphia (1998-2001 & 2003), and Miami 2003-2004). Edwards has another cousin who played local basketball, and his uncle played football for Iowa State. He comes from a rather small family, with two sisters and a brother.Ray Edwards was pretty highly regarded coming out of high school. He was ranked the 9th player in Ohio, and 16th overall in the strong side defensive end position nationally by rivals.com. Edwards played many different positions in high school, including middle line backer and nose tackle. He also played some offense. Ray was ranked the 24th player overall in the mid-west by SuperPrep, and was listed as the 14th defensive end by Tom Lemmings. Ray was also named to the all-state first team and league Player of the Year in his senior year. Edwards recorded 110 tackles, 12 sacks, 7 forced fumbles, and 5 pass break ups.
In 2003, Edwards signed his letter of intent with the Purdue Boilermakers, and played there until he entered the NFL draft in 2005. Edwards was originally committed to Tennessee, but decided to go with Purdue instead. Edwards chose Purdue over Tennessee due to his good relationship with San Diego Chargers DE Shaun Phillips, who also played at Purdue.
Edwards credits Phillips for helping him get off the ball faster, because Phillips had a great first step. Edwards also credited Phillips for teaching him how to get to the quarterback better, and stated Phillips really knew how to disturb blocking schemes. Ray also indicated he looked up to Phillips almost as a big brother, and really liked Purdue's DE Coach, ( the 49ers former DE Coach) Gary Emanuel.
While at Purdue, Edwards took up a degree in Physical Education. Ray played in all 13 games his freshman year as a reserve. He was the Big Ten all-freshman choice by The Sporting News, and recorded 10 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery. Edwards was used mostly on third down passing situations. Ray posted his first career sack against Penn State, recovered a fumble against Northwestern, and another sack in a game against Iowa. He also recorded a season high two tackles in games versus Wake Forest, Arizona, and Penn State. Pretty good numbers for a guy who was used in situational plays only.
In Edward's second year at Penn State, Ray started in all 12 games, he was a semi-finalist for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award, shared the lead with Rob Ninkovich, and ranked tied for second in Big Ten sacks with 8.0. The 8.0 sacks also tied him for 11th on the Purdue all-time record for single season sacks. Ray was ranked 9th in the Big ten with 2 forced fumbles, and was second on the team with 11 tackles for a loss of yardage. Ray has a career high 2.5 tackles for loss or yards against Syracuse, had a career high 5 tackles in a game at Illinois, and saved the game for the Boilermakers, by recovering a fumble with 34 seconds left, to stop an Illini comeback. Edwards had a stellar game versus Notre Dame, where he recorded 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble, and equalled a career high 5 tackles. Edwards matched his career high 5 tackles in a game at Northwestern, and one at home against Ohio State. Ray also played in the Sun Bowl, where he posted 5 tackles, and forced a fumble against the Arizona Sun Devils.
In his final season with Purdue, Ray Edwards was named to the Bronko Nagurski and Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year watch list, he started in 6 of 11 games for the Boilermakers, ranked second on the team with 11 tackles for a loss of yards, and 5.5 sacks. Edwards also recorded his first career interception against Indiana, and also had four tackles on 3 different occasions. After the final game of the 2005 season, Edwards announced he would enter to NFL Draft.
The Minnesota Vikings selected Ray Edwards in the fourth round (127th overall), which they acquired from Indianapolis through Philadelphia, in the Artis Hicks trade. This selection made Edwards the first selection from Purdue for Minnesota since 1976, and he joined fellow defensive ends Darrion Scott (2004 Ohio State) and Erasmus James (2005 Wisconsin), as a Vikings draftee from the Big Ten in three consecutive years. In his rookie season with the Vikings, Edwards played in 15 of 16 games, and started in 2 of the final 4 games. Edwards was tied for 3rd on the team with 3.0 sacks, posted his first career sacks bringing down Buffalo's J.P. Losman, and followed that up with a sack the following week on Jon Kitna against Detroit. In his start versus Green Bay on December 21, 2006, he became the first Viking to block a field goal since Eric Kelley did it against the Giants on November 11, 2002.
In 2007, Edwards will factor into the Vikings rotation, and made his presence known as a rookie with his pass rushing abilities. Already in 2007, Ray Edwards has started in all four games, has made 10 tackles (7 solo and 3 Assists), with 1.5 sacks.
Keep your eye on Ray Edwards this season. he already has matched his tackles from last season, and has 1.5 sacks with three-fourths of the season to play. Edwards has only been listed as inactive for one game in his two seasons as a Viking. He does not appear to be injury prone, and should be a big impact for this Viking Defense.
SKOL EDWARDS!!!!
&
SKOL VIKINGS!!!!
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