DALLAS — For six years now, Siler City native and Jordan-Matthews star George Edwards has been snubbed by the media which has consistently given Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer all the credit for its defense efforts.
Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys know what Edwards can do, and were quick to jump on the veteran NFL assistant as soon as it was announced he would not be back with Minnesota.
Sure, Zimmer called the defenses, but the veteran coach has also publicly stated on numerous occasions that it is Edwards who did the rest.
“He really does everything for me other than call the plays on Sunday,” Zimmer said to reporters in a press conference last season. “George does everything. He helps with the game plan. He runs a lot of the meetings, defensive meetings. He studies the game just like he’s calling the game. Really, I mean, he does everything other than call the game on Sunday.”
Jones and newly-signed Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 2011, made a determined dash to get Edwards into the fold when all indicators pointed at the Duke graduate heading to the Cleveland Browns.
Edwards spent the 1998 through 2001 seasons in Dallas and was beloved by Jones.
He also called the plays for the Vikings against the Cowboys in 2016 when Zimmer had emergency eye surgery. The result was Minnesota holding Dallas and is stars Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott to under 300 yards in a tough 17-15 loss.
Thus far it appears Edwards will coach the linebackers, just as he did in his previous stint with the Cowboys under Chan Gailey and Dave Campo, and also serve as a senior analyst with an attention on defensive dub packages.
Speculation has also surfaced in Dallas that Edwards, who turned 53 on January 16, is the defensive coordinator-in-waiting behind Mike Nolan who will turn 61 in March.
Needless to say there are many Cowboys fans in Chatham County, but that number will grow significantly next fall. And Edwards and Dallas will be facing a tough schedule which includes non-division games with the likes of San Francisco, Baltimore, Seattle and yes, Minnesota.
