10 Most Controversial Cleveland Sports Stars Of All Time
10. Braylon Edwards
The city of Cleveland is well-known for being a hub of Ohio State grads and most of these fine citizens also route for the Cleveland Browns. Many–not all– can separate their loyalties, but Braylon Edwards could never figure that out.
As the Bilentifkoff Award winner at Michigan, Browns fans were psyched for Edwards to bring his game to Cleveland as the No. 3 overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft. The Browns had long gone without a true playmaker at receiver, and Edwards looked like the player who could fill the role.
Instead, all Edwards did was tick Browns’ fans off. Really, the root of his problem was drops. Despite being an elite college player, Edwards struggled to consistently hold onto the ball at the pro level.
Had he caught the ball and scored touchdowns, much like he did during his 2007 Pro Bowl season, he’d be beloved by everyone on the north shore. Instead, he’s viewed as a player who couldn’t live up to his potential, who had a huge chip on should just because he played for Michigan.
During his time with the Browns, Edwards famously missed a practice because he took a chopper ride to Columbus to watch his alma mater in “The Game.” He overslept for team meetings, was accused of getting into a fight with a friend of LeBron James, and was even arrested on a DUI charge.
His dad, former NFLer Stan Ewards, tried defending his son, using the Michigan card to protect his son. “…But the fact of the matter is there are so many people who didn’t like him because he played for Michigan and gave him more crap and actually put our lives in danger on more than one occasion.”
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After Edwards was traded to the Jets in 2009, he continued to tick fans off by staying “There’s nothing going on in Cleveland…There’s no real estate. There’s no social life, no social networking. All the people who have something going on leave Cleveland. So Cleveland has nothing, and I came in there with a New York-type of essence. So what? That was the attitude I came in with. Like, this is who I am. They didn’t like the flash.”