When the Dolphins and the Jets line up on Monday night, the game will feature one receiver who never played considerably well in Ohio and another one who hasn’t played all that well since leaving Ohio after college.
Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum said Wednesday that Braylon Edwards will start when they face Ted Ginn and the Dolphins in Miami in five days. [Editor’s note: Sorry for the prior mistake regarding the location of the game. And thanks to all of you who pointed it out. All 134 of you.]
“If everything goes as expected with physicals and paperwork and all that, how much he plays will be up to [offensive coordinator Brian] Schottenheimer and [head coach Rex] Ryan,” Tannenbaum said. “Our expectations are that he is going to come in and start. It’s a little bit like Ty Law last year, who came in late and played against the Patriots on Thursday night.”
Tannenbaum said that the trade had been in the works for a while, and he denied that it had any connection to the signing of receiver Michael Crabtree with the 49ers.
“There is a league rule that after August 14 no unsigned player in the draft can be traded,” Tannenbaum said. In other words, the Jets couldn’t have traded for Crabtree at this point, even if the Niners wanted to trade him.
Tannenbaum also expressed no concern regarding Edwards’ off-field reputation.
“We went through a thorough researching [of Edwards],” Tannenbaum said. "[Vice President of Security] Steve Yarnell does a great job and we are comfortable where we are in adding Braylon to the team. . . . We reached out to the league. Steve Yarnell reached out to law enforcement. We are comfortable adding Braylon. We will cooperate with the authorities. We are glad he is here. We did all of our due diligence and we are comfortable adding him to the team.”
But the Jets are not yet comfortable extending Edwards’ stay beyond 2009.
“We acquired Braylon and his contract,” Tannenbaum said. “We’re going to honor his contract. Right now, our intentions are that he is going to be here with the contract that we acquired in the trade. That is our plan.”
Absent a new labor deal by March, Edwards will be eligible for restricted free agency only. If a new CBA is reached, Edwards would be eligible for unrestricted free agency, but he would still be subject to the franchise tag.