Mario Lashun Edwards Jr. (born January 25, 1994) is an

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 with ...

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 formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

and was drafted by 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 Raide ...

in the second round of the

2015 NFL Draft The 2015 NFL Draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. The previous ...

. He has also been a member of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and Tennessee Titans.

Early years

Mario was raised in Denton, Texas, while

his father His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

played for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. Edwards attended Prosper High School for his freshman and sophomore year, where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and track. He started at

for the state champion Eagles as a freshman. Edwards recorded 69 tackles and three sacks as a freshman on top of catching 17 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns. He then transferred to

Billy Ryan High School Billy Ryan High School (Ryan or RHS) is a public high school located in east Denton, Texas. It is the second high school of the Denton Independent School District and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. The original building for the school ...

. As a junior, he recorded 127 tackles, 50 tackles for loss and 18 sacks leading Denton Ryan to a state runner-up finish against Austin Lake Travis led by

Michael Brewer Michael Brewer (born November 13, 1992) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Virginia Tech Hokies football, Virginia Tech and was their starting quarterback from 2014 to 2015. Prior to that he played at Texa ...

. As a senior in 2011, he recorded 72 tackles and 11 sacks and was the USA Today High School Defensive Player of the Year. Further, he earned All-American honors by ''USA Today'', ''

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'', ''

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'', and ESPN. In

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, Edwards competed as a shot putter during his final two years at Denton, recording a top-throw of 15.08 meters (49 ft, 3 in) at the 2012 Richardson Invitational, where he placed first. Regarded as a five-star recruit by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'', Edwards was ranked as the No. 1

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

prospect in his class. In fact, he was ranked No. 3 overall, which was ''Rivals.com's'' highest ranking for a defensive tackle prospect since Haloti Ngata (No. 2) in 2002. According to ESPN recruiting analyst Craig Haubert, Edwards was similar to Da'Quan Bowers at the same stage of their careers. Recruited by numerous schools, Edwards took official visits to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Florida State, and

Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

, before committing to the Seminoles on January 24, 2012.

College career

In his true freshman year in Tallahassee, Edwards was initially projected to

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, but then forced into action due to the loss of Brandon Jenkins in week one. Edwards appeared in 11 games and made his first career start in the

2012 ACC Championship Game The 2012 ACC Championship Game was the eighth football championship game for the Atlantic Coast Conference. It featured the winners of the ACCs two divisions, the Atlantic Division's Florida State Seminoles and the Coastal Division's Georgia Te ...

replacing Cornellius Carradine. For the season he had 17 tackles and 1.5 sacks. As a sophomore in 2013, Edwards recorded 34 tackles, 3.5 sacks and an

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. Returning as a starter his junior season in 2014, Edwards recorded 44 tackles and 3.0 sacks. After his junior season, Edwards entered the

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

Edwards was drafted by the

in the second round (35th overall) of the

. On June 19, 2015, the Oakland Raiders signed Edwards to a four-year, $6.01 million contract with $3.72 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $2.63 million. On December 23, 2015, Edwards was placed on injured reserve. On September 5, 2016, Edwards was placed on injured reserve due to a hip injury. He was activated off injured reserve to the active roster on December 23, 2016. On September 1, 2018, Edwards was waived by the Raiders.

New York Giants

On September 2, 2018, Edwards was claimed off waivers by the

New Orleans Saints

On March 15, 2019, Edwards signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the

. He was released on September 5, 2020.

Chicago Bears

On September 8, 2020, Edwards was signed by the

. He played in 15 games recording 17 tackles and a career-high 4.0 sacks. On January 15, 2021, Edwards was suspended by the NFL for the first two games of the 2021 season for violating the league's performance-enhancing drugs policy. He signed a three-year, $11.5 million contract extension with the Bears on March 16, 2021. Edwards was released by the Bears on August 30, 2022.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On September 4, 2022, Edwards was signed to the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad.

Tennessee Titans

On September 26, 2022, Edwards was signed by the Tennessee Titans off the Jaguars practice squad.

Seattle Seahawks

On May 15, 2023, Edwards signed with the

Personal life

Edwards was born while his father, Mario Edwards Sr., was still in high school. While the elder Edwards played college football at Florida State, the younger stayed in Mississippi with his grandmother, Ruth Chambers, and Mario Sr.'s sister and two brothers. After Edwards Sr. was drafted by the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the family moved to the northern Dallas area.

References

External links

Chicago Bears bioFlorida State Seminoles bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Mario Jr. 1994 births Living people People from Gautier, Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi American football defensive ends Chicago Bears players Florida State Seminoles football players Oakland Raiders players New York Giants players New Orleans Saints players Jacksonville Jaguars players Tennessee Titans players Seattle Seahawks players