(This is the official press release put out by the Bills.)
The Buffalo Bills today announced the hiring of George Edwards as the team’s defensive coordinator.
“We are very excited that George Edwards has joined our staff as defensive coordinator,” head coach Chan Gailey said. “He brings a wealth of experience, not only as a motivator and communicator, but he has been involved with some great schemes and we are excited about him being the head of our defense.”
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). Following the 2009 season, Edwards was named the defensive coordinator at the University of Florida on January 8, 2010.
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 as a member of Gailey’s staff with the Dallas Cowboys in 1998, where he tutored the team’s linebackers for four seasons (1998-2001). 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). Edwards coached current Bills DT Marcus Stroud at Georgia in 1997.
The Siler City, NC native was a four-year letterwinner at Duke (1986-89) where he was a two-year special teams’ captain and an All-ACC honorable mention selection at linebacker in 1989.
“I feel like this is a great opportunity for me to come in and have a chance to work with Coach Gailey again and the staff that he has been able to put together,” Edwards said. “I am excited to have the opportunity to come to Buffalo and look forward to getting started as quickly as possible. This is a team that has played good defense in the past and I am excited to continue on with that tradition.”
On his plans for the defensive alignment in 2010, Edwards said, “Defensively, we will start from a 3-4 alignment, but we will do what we feel is best for our players to do. We are not going to give anything away about exactly what we will do, but personnel will dictate what you can and what you can’t do. As far as the initial alignment, the 3-4 is what we will start off with and we will adjust from there.”
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