Edwards requests to leave Chargers
Trade talks with Saints break off
By Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 25, 2006
Donnie Edwards, not for lack of trying to leave his hometown, appears stuck here for now.
Sources said yesterday the Chargers and New Orleans Saints have broken off trade talks, the Saints refusing to come up from their offer of a fourth-round draft pick in exchange for the beleaguered linebacker.
The Saints are the only suitor to have contacted the Chargers.
Sources also said that Edwards and General Manager A.J. Smith spoke recently in a meeting requested by Edwards. In that conference, Edwards asked Smith to let him go to New Orleans.
Following the meeting, the Chargers contacted the Saints and said they would take a third-rounder in exchange for Edwards, but New Orleans held firm.
Smith yesterday stuck by his policy, adopted early in training camp, of not discussing Edwards.
Edwards declined to speak to the Union-Tribune yesterday.
Edwards pulled up lame in the Chargers' second practice on the first day of training camp and has not practiced since. He has in the past week appeared on the verge of returning to practice but has yet to do so.
Matt Wilhelm, meanwhile, has acquitted himself as a viable replacement. Head coach Marty Schottenheimer has said Edwards will be the starter if he is healthy.
The 10-year veteran, an alumnus of Chula Vista High, will miss the Chargers' exhibition game against Seattle tomorrow. Should he return to practice when the team resumes work Monday, which Schottenheimer said he expects, Edwards could play in the exhibition finale Sept. 1 at San Francisco and be ready for the regular-season opener 10 days later.
“He needs to get to work,” Schottenheimer said. “It will take him some time. I don't care who you are, it's a different pace.”
If Edwards is not dealt before the Oct. 18 trading deadline, he will play the season essentially as a lame duck. He is clearly ready to leave, and equally clear for some time now is that Smith has little use for him.
The Chargers in April informed the rest of the NFL that Edwards was available for trade. Smith's asking price was a second-round pick. While the Chargers came down by saying they would accept a third-rounder, word out of New Orleans has always been the Saints aren't going to part with a first-day pick.
The difficulty in obtaining a high pick for Edwards is that teams do not want to overpay for a 33-year-old linebacker in the final year of his contract. Edwards is due $3.55 million this season, the final installment of a five-year, $18.75 million deal.
Edwards, who has missed just one start since 1997, has led the Chargers in tackles each of his four seasons in San Diego. He also led the Chiefs in tackles from 1998 through 2001. Only Miami's Zach Thomas has more tackles over the past seven seasons.
Many of Edwards' tackles, however, are downfield. And among linebackers, he ranks 61st in sacks and 36th in tackles for loss over the past seven seasons.
It is true that Edwards is not asked to be a pass rusher and, in fact, is among the league's best linebackers in coverage. But the fact that he is not a game-changing linebacker in the vein of Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher, yet has continually asked for more money while being among the league's highest-paid inside linebackers, is what has apparently rankled Smith.
In June, Smith said: “It has become crystal clear to me that Donnie is very unhappy with his contract and has been for a few years. We have always appreciated Donnie Edwards' playing ability, and we believe he is well-compensated. However, because of his unhappiness we will do everything possible to find him a new team – a team that will appreciate him the way he would like and will compensate him with an amount that will make him very happy and content.”
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