Rex Ryan made it clear on Thursday that he couldn’t care less about Braylon Edwards’ Twitter rant a week before the Jets acquired him off waivers on Tuesday. Edwards criticized the Jets’ decision makers by calling them “idiots” in his attempt to defend Mark Sanchez.
Ryan said that neither he nor general manager Mike Tannenbaum was overly concerned about the remarks.
“We’re both okay with it,” Ryan said.
“It’s funny because you’ll make a comment – not that I would have ever done this – that you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh. I never wanted to say that’ or ‘That came out wrong,'” Ryan said.
So why did Edwards come out so strong against the organization?
“I have no idea,” Ryan said. “We brought him back.”
On Wednesday, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll told reporters that he thought Edwards’ hamstring injury was a three-week injury, but Ryan maintained that “we felt different.” The News reported on Thursday morning that Edwards, who passed his physical and will be limited in practice on Thursday, should be healthy and ready to play on Monday night against the Titans.
“I’m optimistic he’ll be ready to play on Monday,” Ryan said later. “But again, I’m going to lean on our trainers and our doctors to make sure.”
But can a receiver that has had only 23 receptions in the past two seasons make a contribution down the stretch for a team with a depleted WR corps?
“I think he can,” Ryan said. “That’s why we brought him in obviously. We feel good about it. He does have some chemistry with the quarterback. He’s familiar with him. The system may be different… I think he’s a smart guy. I think he learns quickly. We’ll see how much he can help us.”
Edwards has spent extra time with wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal to get up to speed with the playbook. Ryan said.
“He’s extremely happy to be here,” Ryan said. “He’s hugging guys. He’s going crazy. I was happy to see him despite the obvious comment.
The bottom line: Ryan, who has always had a good relationship with Edwards, didn’t really care about the critical comments.
“There’s a lot of comments that get fired at me, so I’m okay with them,” Ryan said. “He knows what I’ve always thought about Braylon. I’ve always been a big fan of Braylon’s because I like the way he plays. So I think that comment… please. I want the player and I know that when he’s in our building, he’s had some success here. Again, I just like Braylon as a player and I like him as a person. There isn’t one guy in that locker room that (is) always perfect with a comment here or there… There’s things privately where I’ve been called a lot worse from players.”
