After recording 11 catches for 193 yards with a touchdown as a rookie, receiver Bryan Edwards flashed his potential for the Raiders in 2021.
Selected in the third round of the 2020 draft, Edwards caught 34 passes for 571 yards with three TDs in his second season — adding three receptions for 41 yards in the postseason loss to Cincinnati.
But with a new regime in place and receivers like Davante Adams and Demarcus Robinson added to the roster, Las Vegas traded Edwards and a seventh-round pick to Atlanta in exchange for a fifth-round pick.
Tight end Darren Waller, now Edwards’ former Raiders teammate, said in a recent interview that getting a fresh start elsewhere could be good for the young receiver’s career.
“I really like Bryan a lot just as a human being and as a football player,” Waller said, via Austin Boyd of Heavy.com. “Contested catchability is elite, and I feel like he can only continue to grow as a player as he gets more and more opportunities — you see it in the games where he got opportunities.
“A change of scenery, it can be one of the best things that can ever happen to you. It’s not necessarily about what happens along the journey, it’s more so about your response to what happens. And I feel like he’s somebody that is mentally and physically capable of responding in a big way, and I’m excited to follow his career and see how it unfolds because I think great things are in store for him.”
With the Edwards trade, the Raiders have now released or traded each of their top five selections from the 2020 draft. The two remaining players on their roster from that draft class — offensive lineman John Simpson and cornerback Amik Robertson — are not currently considered locks to make the initial 53-man roster at the start of the regular season.
In Atlanta, Edwards will compete to catch passes from Marcus Mariota or Desmond Ridder.