Year-End Superlatives: Most Disappointing Player

At midseason, the pick was Matt Ryan due to some inconsistent play during September coupled with high expectations going into the season. But now, a new winner has clearly emerged. That player is none other than Ray Edwards, who I discussed briefly when talking about the team’s top newcomers before. But Edwards was a major disappointment, considering the Falcons brought him in to improve their pass rush. And while the Falcons pass rush did improve overall, it was hard to tell just by looking at Edwards. When you examine the fact that Edwards played twice as many snaps as Jamaal Anderson did last year in terms of plays where he was asked to rush the passer, yet generated the same number of hits and pressures is very telling. Sure, Edwards wound up with 3.5 more sacks, but if you really go back and look at all of those sacks, they become a lot less impressive. In all of the cases of his sacks, they came on plays were a teammate of his was able to get pressure as well and essenti...