On Tuesday, Raiders’ second-year receiver Bryan Edwards took to the field for his first mandatory minicamp as a pro. The pandemic robbed him and his rookie teammates of a normal transition into NFL life. While he took some lessons from his time with the team and his twelve game appearances, this season, in a way feels like a fresh start.
“With not having an offseason last year and having the first offseason this year, for the first part of it, I kind of did feel like a rookie again,” Edwards said after Tuesday’s practice. “But, I’m kind of finding my pace now.”
Ten months ago, the third-round rookie was the talk of Raiders training camp. You’d have never thought at the time that missing the offseason would have been an issue for him.
If you were following along at the time you probably developed some pretty high expectations from him. Few could blame you for those expectations. I certainly don’t.
As a near-daily observer of his work in camp, I can confirm he looked like very much the real deal. The big-bodied receiver used every bit of his 6-3, 212-pound frame to make leaping acrobatic catches look almost routine. And by the time the season began, Edwards was named the week one starter.
The primary reason for his being thrown into the starting lineup was the injury to incumbent starter Tyrell Williams. But injuries happen and Edwards was the next man up at the X receiver spot.
This decision was a risky one to be certain. Not just because Edwards was a rookie, but because so too was top pick Henry Ruggs III on the other side of the formation. Oh, and both were starting despite having no offseason program.
Whatever the Raiders were hoping for in terms of results, what they got could not have been nearly enough. Edwards wasn’t too happy either.
In three starts to begin the season, Edwards put up just five combined catches for 99 yards. Then he got injured and was made inactive for four games. When he came back, he barely saw the field on offense, putting up just six catches the rest of the season.
“It definitely was a process and it obviously was frustrating,” Edwards continued. “Anytime I’m not getting the results I want to get, I’m frustrated and I’m trying fix it. But Rome wasn’t built in one day. All good things take time, and I’m just trusting the process.”
You get the feeling with the platitudes he’s spitting out in rapid-fire that those are the words he tells himself to keep him from getting too down on his rookie season. But really he shouldn’t. A lot was asked of him. And ultimately too much was being expected of him as well.
The media hype can set some unrealistic expectations sometimes. All he can do now is take what he learned, put the bad stuff behind him, and go into this season even better prepared than before.
“I mean last year is last year, I can’t change that,” he said. “I had some injuries and things like that. My main focus this year is just being the best person I can be for this team and trying to stay healthy and make as many plays as I can.”
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