Former Denton Ryan standout Mario Edwards Jr. had his pick of the litter when it came to where he'd play his college football after he was a Parade All-American defensive lineman, but ultimately he chose to follow in his father's footsteps and go play at Florida State, where like his father, he won a national championship with the Seminoles.
Now, Edwards Jr. can follow in his father, Mario Sr.'s footsteps again, but this time it won't be up to him.
Mario Edwards Sr. was a cornerback drafted by the Cowboys in 2000 out of Florida State and he spent four seasons with the Cowboys, where he was actually teammates briefly with Tony Romo and Jason Witten.
And the Cowboys might be continuing the family legacy, as they were one of the teams sniffing around Edwards Jr. pretty extensively at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
Edwards Jr. weighed in at 279 pounds at the combine after letting his weight get up over 300 pounds last season, and weight has been a struggle for the junior, who declared for early entry into the draft.
“He’s a tough player to evaluate because it seems like he’s a different player based on the games you watch,” Dane Brugler, a senior NFL draft analyst for NFLDraftScout and CBS Sports, told The Dallas Morning News. “I think a big part of that is his weight. He’s a top-50 talent, but he needs to prove that he’s accountable on and off the field with his weight.”
Edwards Jr. said he's love the chance to come home to play professionally for the team he grew up watching his dad play for before going on to play high school football at Prosper and then moving to Denton Ryan prior to his breakout junior season.
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His father said it'd be surreal.
“It would be an honor,” Mario Sr. said. “I’d be glad, I’d be excited just for the fact that he followed my path to Florida State and won a championship there and then had an opportunity to get drafted by the team that drafted me. I don’t think you could write a story any better than that.”
