Mandatory Photo Credit: © Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports / ©Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
(Detroit, MI) – Braylon Edwards is over 10-years removed from his NFL career. The man who once brought the crowd to his feet at Michigan and later as a member of the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets is used to a more quiet lifestyle these days. But a world class athlete like him likes to stay in shape, and Edwards recently took a trip to his local YMCA for a workout. That’s when he found himself front and center in the news headlines once again.
Last Friday, an assault was unfolding inside that YMCA’s locker room. Apparently, a 25-year-old man was beating up an 80-year-old man at the gym in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Edwards told WDIV-TV in Detroit that he initially overheard and argument four rows away from where he was changing – concerning loud music.
Edwards told the TV station, “I’m not paying attention and I was just handling my business. The noise escalates and then you can hear some pushing and shoving, and you know what fighting sounds like. Start to hear some tussling, start to hear some fists, but once I hear a thud, that’s when I got up and turned around. And then I see the guy and I think he’s reaching for a phone underneath the victim.” That’s when Edwards explains he felt the need to spring into action: “(The attacker) grabs the back of the victim’s head by the hair, and he was about to slam it down on the counter. I grabbed him and subdued him.”
This all took place about a half hour away from where Edwards grew up before going on to star in Ann Arbor. A police report says the alleged attacker ran away from the YMCA and was eventually arrested – but not before several local schools were put on lockdown, just to be safe.
“I didn’t know it was that serious,” Edwards said. “I mean the victim probably had a serious concussion by nature, but it wasn’t until I talked to the detective down in Farmington who told me that [it was a life-threatening situation] if I didn’t step in,” Edwards recounted. “But at the end of the day that’s what you do.”
Edwards has since found out the older man who was attacked is expected to survive. The ex-NFLer hopes to meet him when the victim gets out of the hospital. As to why he got involved, Edwards explained: “People go to work out, they have a good time, they live to be 80 years and this isn’t how they expect for something to maybe take their life. My mom, my grandmother, my father – in that moment, when you come back home, these are the people you think about.”
Edwards, a first-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, won the Biletnikoff award as the best college WR in 2004, and finished his NFL career with 359 receptions for 5,522 yards and 40 receiving TDs.
