Edwards hardly a sound investment for Jets

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Jets WR Braylon Edwards

Edwards, 26, is currently being investigated by the NFL as to whether he violated the league's personal-conduct policy after he allegedly punched a man outside of a Cleveland nightclub on Monday. The fifth-year pro has 10 catches for 139 yards this season. He was held without a catch in Week Four vs. Cincinnati.

In four-plus stormy seasons in Cleveland, the 6-3, 215-pound Edwards caught 238 passes for 3,697 yards (15.5 avg.) and 28 touchdowns. The majority of his production came in 2007, when he made 80 catches for 1,289 yards and scored 16 touchdowns. He has struggled with dropped passes throughout his career, ranking among the NFL leaders in drops the past three seasons.

Stuckey, a third-year player out of Clemson, has 11 catches for 120 yards and one touchdown this season. Trusnik, a third-year player out of Ohio Northern, won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors last week.

The PFW spin

The Jets have been starved for an elite wide receiver for a long time, and there was rampant speculation that it was only a matter of time before they made a splashy acquisition.

Oh, sure, head coach Rex Ryan did his best from the moment he was hired in the offseason through training camp and the start of the season to put on a happy face regarding his team's WR situation, but even the straight-shooter Ryan is couldn't be taken at face value on this matter. In April, Gang Green tried and failed to trade back into the first round to select Percy Harvin. Then, there was talk that they were trying to pry Brandon Marshall away from the Broncos. And only a few weeks ago, the 49ers filed a tampering complaint against the Jets claiming that they were trying to find a way to get then-unsigned first-round pick Michael Crabtree into a Jets uniform.

While the Jets were certainly in a dubious predicament at receiver, it's unfair to say the position was a dire need. Jerricho Cotchery has quietly been a very productive receiver, and Stuckey, now back with former coach Eric Mangini in Cleveland, has shown promising signs despite a dismal showing last week against the Saints.

So now the Jets have the No. 1 wide receiver they have coveted. Or do they? For all of Edwards' game-breaking potential, the substantive evidence seems to suggest that he's more of a talented enigma. Since entering the league in 2005, he has eclipsed 884 receiving yards and six touchdowns one time — during his Pro Bowl season of ’07.

Can he make the acrobatic, highlight-reel grab in the red zone? Yeah. But he also has penchant for dropping the ball, leading the league in drops last season. Furthermore, his laundry list of locker-room and off-field indiscretions — the most recent of which was his alleged battery of LeBron James' friend in the early-morning hours of Oct. 5 — renders him a legitimate threat to team chemistry and a candidate for a possible suspension under the league's personal-conduct policy.

Then again, maybe a change of scenery and a stable QB situation could be the antidote to his problems. That was certainly the case for Randy Moss when he was traded from Oakland to New England in 2007. While nobody is about to mistake Edwards for Moss, the similarities are there.

There's no question that Edwards is an upgrade over Stuckey. But the reason that this acquisition is dubious is due to the fact that WR depth was a bigger problem for the Jets than their starters. Now that they've traded away a young, promising starter for a more talented and troubled one without improving upon the backup situation of Brad Smith and David Clowney, are they any better off?

Maybe.

PFW has launched its brand-new NFL Draft Newsletter series, with the first issue now ready for mailing. Produced by PFW's player personnel department under the direction of Nolan Nawrocki, the series consists of four information-packed issues. For more info or to subscribe — click here for PDF e-pub or here for print format.