Chris Edwards is one of the Eskimos’ unsung heroes.
He’s a second-year player who seldom gets noticed unless he makes a big play or takes a costly penalty – both of which he’s done this season – but stats don’t tell the true story of Edwards’ value to the Eskimos defence.
“I just love the passion and the heart he plays with,” said Eskimos defensive coordinator/assistant head coach Mike Benevides. “When he first came to us in pre-season (in 2017), he played with so much passion and fire and aggression that he got noticed for just being extremely aggressive. I had a talk with him and said, ‘Hey, if you want to make this football team, you’ve got to keep those things in check.’
“What he brings to the table is a tremendous amount of aggression, talent and a lot of ability. We ask him to do a lot of different things, and he’s done well. He’s involved in defending the run, defending the pass, they play on either weak side or strong side, depending upon the formation. There’s a lot that goes along with that position.”
Edwards, 25, plays the same position where Kenny Ladler put up huge numbers in 2016 and 2017 to earn another opportunity in the NFL (he’s currently on the Washington Redskins’ practice roster).
“They call it the SAM (strong-side) linebacker, but really, he’s a defensive back,” Benevides said. “We call him the nickel back. This is a passing league, so yeah, he’s responsible for the pass defence much, much more than he is for the run defence.”
Edwards had an opportunity to fill in at nickel last year, so he knew it was a challenging position coming into the season.
“Basically the other DBs (defensive backs) just play pass,” Edwards said. “Being a nickel, being a SAM linebacker, I have to play in the box (in the middle of the defence to stop the run) and I have to cover (receivers). The guy I’m covering, most of the time has a two-way go while other positions have a one-way go.”
Edwards explained that “a one-way go” means the defensive halfbacks knows their receiver will come off the line and usually release towards the outside of the field while the nickel’s receiver could go in any direction.
“Me being at the 3-spot, it’s easier to get them in one-on-one situations,” said Edwards, who went to the same college (University of Idaho) as fellow defensive back Aaron Grymes, but in different years. “I already knew it was going to be a tough position, but I was ready for it just because I knew my athleticism and I’m smart, so I can handle the job.
“I’ve still got team goals I’m trying to reach, so I’ll be happy at the end of the season if we win a championship,” he continued. “Then I’ll know I did my job. As of right now, I feel like I’m doing pretty good, but I feel like there’s more plays that I can make. That’s what’s going to happen these last five games – more plays are going to be made.”
No one’s worried that Edwards has only 29 defensive tackles this season – fifth-most on the team – while Ladler led the Eskimos with 86 defensive tackles when he was more involved with stopping the run because middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt was sidelined for most of last season with an Achilles tendon injury.
“Everybody has a different style of play,” Edwards said. “When I get my read on the run, and I get a good jump, that’s when I stick my head in there. But other than that, I play the pass more.
“As long as I’m doing my job, I’m helping the team out.”
Benevides said Edwards is “an outstanding player” who is getting better all the time, but pointed out that he’s still growing into the position compared to Ladler, who had two years worth of experience playing nickel.
“I think experience played a big factor into his success and how he went about things,” Benevides said about Ladler.
Nickel also became a lot more complicated this year with the Eskimos playing more man-to-man defence than they ever did in the past under Benevides’ direction, opting to match their defensive backs with a particular receiver at certain times, “which mean we’ve played them all over the place.”
“This is how skilled Chris is,” Benevides said. “If we want to match him on a certain personality, he might play corner, or he might be in the free safety position, or he may be moved around to the strong side of the field. From a statistic point of view, it’s much, much difference because we never asked Kenny to do that.
“It’s a huge ask (of a defensive back) because they have to learn all kinds of different assignments at different positions, but there’s an advantage to confusing an offence. And he’s selfless. If you want him to blitz, he’ll blitz. If you want him to cover a guy, he’ll cover a guy. And there’s weeks where his guy hasn’t caught a ball or, if he has caught a ball, it’s contested.”
It didn’t help that the Eskimos came out of training camp without four starters they expected to have on defence because of injuries and then lost two more starting players in the season-opener at Winnipeg.
“In the span of seven or eight days, we lost half of our starting defence, and that was a big part of the secondary,” said Benevides. “That affected things tremendously.
“Then we went through a transformation at free safety from Kinger (Neil King) to Woody (third-year veteran Josh Woodman). That has a lot to do with continuity, the ability to play fast, the ability to make that play.”
With so many newcomers inserted into the starting lineup early in the season, Edwards, Grymes and Sherritt became even more valuable as the only Eskimos veterans among the secondary and linebackers to play every game this season.
“That’s a huge part of being an outstanding pro football player,” Benevides said.
As for Edwards, specifically, Benevides said: ”He’s been fortunate, he’s taken care of himself and every week he’s lined up for us and played well.”
Throughout it all, Edwards has played hard, regardless of what the Eskimos have asked him to do. The fumbles he created with big hits in the backfield against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders both led to Edmonton touchdowns while his interception against Toronto stopped a potential Argos’ scoring drive.
“The guy kicked it off his foot, and I had the awareness and concentration to go and grab it,” he said about his second career interception.
Edwards was mad at himself for taking some penalties considered “mental” mistakes because he was “playing angry” earlier this season, but he’s proud of his effort to clean that up.
“Chris has got that reputation, and sometimes people are going to try to aggravate him or try to instigate him,” Benevides explained. “He’s just one of those guys who plays with a lot of fire and passion and people know that. He’s done a much better job of (avoiding) the kind of penalties we talk about not wanting – the objectionable conducts or the dead ball foul.
“To be honest with you, knock on wood as I’m hitting my table, I think he’s been off that stat sheet for several weeks, which is great to see.”
Edwards has taken three illegal contact penalties over the last six games, but while he wants to cut down on those, too, he understands they are also judgement calls by an official.
“When you get physical sometimes, the referees tend to make judgement calls that aren’t always right,” he said. “I’ve had referees come to me at practice and tell me it was a bad call, but in the game, it was called. I’m not too mad at myself if I get calls like that playing hard and playing physical.”