# Ray Edwards (American football)

Raymond James Edwards Jr. (born January 1, 1985) is a former American football defensive end. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL draft. He played college football at Purdue.

## Early life

Edwards attended Woodward High School in Cincinnati and was a student and a letterman in football and basketball. In football, he was a two-year starter and posted 20.0 sacks, 110 tackles, and seven forced fumbles as a senior.

## College career

Edwards played college football for three years at Big Ten school Purdue from 2003 to 2005. In his college career, Edwards played 36 games (starting in 18). He recorded a total of 16 sacks and received many honors including All-Freshmen team choice by The Sporting News (2003), honorable mention All-Big Ten (2004) and semifinalist for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award (2005).

## Professional career

Pre-draft measurables :
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press |
| 6 ft 4+3⁄4 in (1.95 m) | 273 lb (124 kg) | 33+1⁄4 in (0.84 m) | 10+3⁄8 in (0.26 m) | 4.83 s | 1.61 s | 2.77 s | 4.57 s | 7.71 s | 39 in (0.99 m) | 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) | 30 reps |
| All values from NFL Combine ||||||||||||

### Minnesota Vikings

Edwards was selected as the 127th pick (fourth round) of the 2006 NFL draft. During his rookie season, he appeared in 15 of the 16 regular season games, (the most for a Vikings rookie that year) and started in 2 of the last 4 games. He recorded 3 sacks and 10 tackles. In 2007 Edwards had 5 sacks and 30 tackles in 12 games. He scored one touchdown on a fumble recovery against Detroit. On December 5, Edwards was suspended for four games by the National Football League for a violation of the league's Steroid policy. He was not eligible to play for the remainder of the Vikings regular season. In 2008 Edwards made 55 tackles and 5 sacks as the starting left defensive end after the acquisition of Jared Allen. In 2009, Edwards had a breakout year, recording 8.5 sacks, and having a strong performance against the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional Round of the post-season. Edwards became a restricted free agent in the 2010 offseason due to the CBA dispute instead of an unrestricted FA as he would have been if there were a labor agreement. The Vikings gave him a first-round restricted free agent tender. He signed the tender on June 14, 2010, after deciding to miss the Vikings offseason program.

### Atlanta Falcons

On July 29, 2011, Edwards was signed by the Atlanta Falcons to a five-year contract for 30 million dollars with 11 million dollars guaranteed. During the Falcons' 8–1 start in 2012, Edwards was largely invisible, with most of his snaps being taken by players with much lower salaries.
Edwards was released by the Falcons on November 12, 2012.

## NFL career statistics

Legend :
| Bold | Career high |

### Regular season

| Year | Team | Games | Games | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD |
| 2006 | MIN | 15 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | MIN | 12 | 11 | 30 | 26 | 4 | 5.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
| 2008 | MIN | 15 | 15 | 53 | 34 | 19 | 5.0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | MIN | 16 | 16 | 51 | 43 | 8 | 8.5 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | MIN | 14 | 14 | 37 | 28 | 9 | 8.0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | ATL | 16 | 16 | 33 | 24 | 9 | 3.5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 64 | 0 |
| 2012 | ATL | 9 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 0 |
| | | 97 | 78 | 223 | 168 | 55 | 33.0 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 99 | 1 |

### Playoffs

| Year | Team | Games | Games | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD |
| 2009 | MIN | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 4.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | ATL | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | 3 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 4.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Catfish

In a 2020 episode of Catfish: The TV Show, hosts Nev Schulman and Kamie Crawford discover that the catfish they are tracking down in the episode used Edwards's photos in his fake Instagram account, along with two other men's photos.

## Boxing

Edwards made his professional boxing debut at a Minnesota casino on May 20, 2011, defeating Tyrone Gibson in a four-round bout. Edwards told the Star Tribune that he had signed a two-fight contract. His trainer was Jeff Warner, a former heavyweight boxer and pro wrestler.

## Professional boxing record

12 Wins (7 knockouts, 5 decisions), 1 Losses, 1 Draws :
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Type | Rd., Time | Date | Location | Notes |
| Loss | 12-1-1 | Keenan "Good Burger" Hickman | KO | 4 (6) 2:55 | 2016-11-26 | Firebird Athletic Complex, Bedford, Ohio | |
| Win | 12-0-1 | Daniel Pasciolla | UD | 6 | 2016-09-15 | 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
| Win | 11-0-1 | Steven Tyner | KO | 2 (4) 2:14 | 2016-08-26 | The Cabooze, Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| Draw | 10-0-1 | Grover Young | SD | 4 | 2015-11-25 | Bayfront Convention Center, Erie, Pennsylvania | |
| Win | 10-0-0 | Efren "Doc" Brown | TKO | 2 (4) 1:29 | 2015-06-27 | Tyndall Armory, Indianapolis, Indiana | |
| Win | 9–0 | Brandon "Sizzler" Spencer | UD | 6 | 2014-09-27 | Performance Arts Center, Dearborn, Michigan | |
| Win | 8–0 | D. J. "Don't get me confused with DL" Hughley | TKO | 4 (4), 0:47 | 2014-08-16 | Carole Heafner Center, Charlotte, North Carolina | |
| Win | 7–0 | Sam "I Am" Coming | KO | 2 (4), 0:53 | 2014-05-16 | Henry Ford College, Dearborn, Michigan | |
| Win | 6–0 | Raymuendo Lopez | UD | 4 | 2014-04-19 | Henry Ford College, Dearborn, Michigan | |
| Win | 5–0 | Alex Rozman | UD | 4 | 2014-01-24 | Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota | |
| Win | 4–0 | "Mini" Van Goodman | TKO | 3 (4), 0:30 | 2013-03-15 | Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota | |
| Win | 3–0 | Nick "Turbo Tax" Capes | KO | 1 (4), 0:29 | 2013-02-09 | Red River Valley Fairgrounds, West Fargo, North Dakota | |
| Win | 2–0 | Cory "Spare Tire" Briggs | KO | 1 (4), 0:41 | 2013-01-15 | Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota | |
| Win | 1–0 | Tyrone Gibson | UD | 4 | 2011-05-20 | Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota | Professional debut. |