Kalimba Edwards (born December 26, 1979) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

. He was originally drafted by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

in the second round of the

2002 NFL Draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually sinc ...

. He played college football at

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = G ...

. Edwards has also played for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

College career

Edwards played college football at

. During his sophomore year, he started every game at

, recording 64 tackles and five sacks, earning an All-American selection. During his junior year, he moved to

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

and finished third on the team in tackles with 74 and tied for the lead in sacks with seven. He also earned All-American third-team selection by the

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and was a consensus All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

first-team choice. During his senior year, he played both linebacker and defensive end and was a semifinalist for both the

Lombardi Trophy The Vince Lombardi Trophy is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl. The trophy is named in honor of NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victo ...

and

Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fam ...

after finishing the season with 79 tackles and 3.5 sacks. He also earned an All-SEC first-team selection during his senior year.

Professional career

Detroit Lions

Edwards was drafted by the

in the second round of the

. During his rookie year he played in all 16 games and led the team in sacks with 6.5. In 2005, he led the Lions in sacks for the second time with seven. The Lions released him on March 13, 2008. He finished his career with the Lions with 160 tackles and 26 sacks.

Oakland Raiders

On March 28, 2008 Edwards was signed by the

to a two-year, $5 million contract. On February 20, 2009, Edwards was released by the Raiders. He finished his only season with the team starting 11 of 14 games, recording 48 tackles and five sacks.

References

External links

Detroit Lions bioOakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Kalimba 1979 births Living people People from East Point, Georgia African-American players of American football American football defensive ends South Carolina Gamecocks football players Detroit Lions players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Fulton County, Georgia 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople