George Edwards biography
Date of birth : 1967-01-16
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Siler City, North Carolina
Nationality : American
Category : Sports
Last modified : 2010-10-23
Credited as : Football coach NFL, defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bils, Super Bowl/NFL Draft player
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COACHING EXPERIENCE
George Edwards brings 19 years of coaching experience with him in his first season as the Bills’ defensive coordinator. He spent the last 12 years in the NFL ranks, including the last five as a linebackers coach for the Miami Dolphins.
* In 2009, the Miami defense rated second in the AFC (fourth in the NFL) in third-down conversion rate, holding opponents to a 34.8 percent success rate (69-of-198). In addition, the Dolphins paced the NFL by recording a sack every 7.4 opponent pass plays, on average (44 sacks on 325 pass plays).
* In 2005, Edwards’ first season tutoring the Dolphins’ linebackers, Zach Thomas was selected to the Pro Bowl for the sixth time, as he recorded 166 tackles despite only playing in 14 games. Channing Crowder, a third-round draft choice, made a tremendous impact on the success of the defense as he started 13 games and registered 90 tackles, the highest total by a Dolphins rookie since 1996 (Thomas, 180).
* In 2006, Thomas was selected to the AFC Pro Bowl squad once again, and Crowder recorded 104 tackles, the second-consecutive season in which the pair finished 1-2 on the team’s tackle chart, respectively. Crowder was second on the club in 2008 with 114 tackles, marking a career best and also the second time that he attained the 100-tackle plateau.
Prior to going to Miami, Edwards spent 2004 as linebackers coach for the Cleveland Browns.
In 2003, Edwards was named the defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins after serving as the assistant defensive coordinator/ linebackers coach the previous year.
* As Washington’s defensive coordinator, Edwards helped LB LaVar Arrington and CB Champ Bailey earn Pro Bowl honors.
* In 2002, Arrington produced the most productive season of his NFL career with 107 tackles and 11 sacks and earned his second-straight Pro Bowl berth. In addition that year, each of the team’s starting linebackers, which also included Jesse Armstead and Jeremiah Trotter, surpassed the 100-tackle plateau.
Edwards began his NFL coaching career with a four-season stint with the Dallas Cowboys (1998-2001), where he tutored the team’s linebackers.
* Under Edwards’ guidance, Dexter Coakley, a third-round draft choice in 1997, was selected to the Pro Bowl twice over this four-year span (1999, 2001), as he was Dallas’ second-leading tackler all four years.
Prior to his time in the pro ranks, Edwards spent seven years coaching at the college level, including stints at Georgia (1997- defensive line), Duke (1996- linebackers), Appalachian State (1992-95- linebackers) and Florida (1991- graduate assistant).
* During his one-year stint at Georgia, Edwards tutored a defensive line which included a pair of freshman in Richard Seymour and current Bills’ DL Marcus Stroud, both of whom were selected in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft.
PERSONAL
A native of Siler City, N.C., Edwards is a Duke University alumnus, where he was a four-year letterman and playing for former UF head coach Steve Spurrier. He was a two-year special teams’ captain and an All-ACC honorable mention selection at linebacker in 1989. Edwards and his wife, Jami, have a son, B.J.
