JAGUARS CLAIM QB TRENT EDWARDS ON WAIVERS

Trent Edwards was released by the Buffalo Bills on Monday, but he’s not going to be out of work for long.  The Jacksonville Jaguars claimed Edwards off of waivers on Tuesday and will sign a contract with the quarterback on Wednesday.  He’s expected to join the team at practice later in the day.  Edwards will make $1.65 million for the 2010 season under his existing contract, which the Bills have already paid him 291,176 of.  The Jaguars will pick up the tab for the rest of that amount.  The New York Jets also put in a claim for Edwards, but Jacksonville was awarded his services based on having the worse record of the two teams.

It’s been a crazy week for Edwards—one week ago he was benched by his former team in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick.  In announcing the move Bills’ coach Chan Gailey said that Fitzpatrick was "going to take the reins and see where that takes us."  Fitzpatrick played well against New England over the weekend, and on Monday morning Edwards was released.  He’s now joining a team with a struggling starter and has a very realistic shot at winning the #1 quarterback job by the end of the year.

Edwards started the Bills’ first two this season, completing 29 of 52 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown. He also threw two interceptions as Buffalo lost both games.   As bad as Edwards’ played in Buffalo, however, David Garrard has been even worse in Jacksonville.  He threw four interceptions and was benched in a blowout loss to the Chargers at San Diego.  Last Sunday he completed  13 of 30 passes for a mere 105 yards and an interception in a home rout by the Philadelphia Eagles. He also was sacked six times.  Garrard has now lost six of his last seven starts and can’t be encouraged by this very tepid vote of confidence from coach Jack Del Rio:

"As long as he's our best option, we'll continue to go with him.”

Garrard played very well in 2007, when he threw 18 TD passes, just three interceptions and led the team to its first playoff victory since 2000.  He was rewarded with a new $60 million contract and hasn’t come close to the same level of performance since.  Jacksonville has been unhappy with his performance for some time now, but hasn’t had any better options for the quarterback position.  Edwards will hopefully give them one.

Jacksonville heads to Indianapolis this weekend for a game against the Colts.  The Jaguars are a +9 NFL betting underdog with the total set at 46’.  As of now, Garrard is the scheduled starter for the game but don’t be surprised to see Edwards in the lineup should he struggle.