Chargers 90-in-90: P Lachlan Edwards

Lachlan “Lac” Edwards was born in Hastings, Victoria in Canada and attended Mornington Secondary College. He of course grew up playing Australian rules football where he was a notable player for the Dandenong Stingrays (RIP Steve Irwin) who play in the under-18 NAB league.

From there, Edwards played for the North Ballarat Football Club of the Victorian Football League (VFL) for three seasons. He unfortunately never got the chance to be drafted into the Australian Football League (AFL).

Before heading to the United States, he spent some time at the University of Ballarat where he played Aussie rules football, rugby, cricket, and track & field. In 2012, Edwards was also named to the All-Australian University Team for football.

Edwards ended up at Sam Houston State where he played three seasons for the FCS powerhouse. In 2014, he was named to the All-Southland Conference First Team and was selected as a Third-Team FCS All-American.

On day three of the 2016 NFL draft, Edwards was selected in the seventh round by the New York Jets at 235th overall. He’d start for the Jets over the next four seasons, totaling 15,368 punt yards and averaging 45.5 yards per punt with 108 landing inside the 20.

After being let go by the Jets following some struggles during the 2019 season, Edwards signed with the Bills on August 19 of 2020 but was waived eight days later.

Edwards eventually signed by the Chargers near the end of the 2020 season on December 2. He later signed a reserve/future contract following the season.

Basic Info

Height: 6’4
Weight: 209
College: Sam Houston State
Experience: 5
Years with team: 1

Contract Status

“Lac Edwards signed a 1 year, $990,000 contract with the Los Angeles Chargers, including an average annual salary of $990,000. In 2021, Edwards will earn a base salary of $990,000, while carrying a cap hit of $850,000.” - Spotrac.com

The Good

Edwards is just two years removed from leading the NFL in punting yards with 3,991. He averaged 45.9 yards per punt that season, which matched his average from 2018, as well. His career-long of 70 yards is seven yards more than the current long for Ty Long (63). Despite Long’s averages from his first two NFL seasons being higher than any of Edwards’ averages, Edwards has never had less than 23 punts land inside the 20-yard line in any given season while Long hasn’t recorded more than 17 in each of those aforementioned seasons.

The Bad

There’s not a ton of bad here for Edwards, in all honesty. He was let go from a team that was bad and sometimes that’s because the player was bad or the team was bad and they felt they needed a fresh start at a certain position. Nothing from my research shows me Edwards was horrendous during his years in New York but some late struggles in 2019 played a part in the franchise moving on from him.

Odds of making the roster/What to expect in 2020?

After a horrid stretch of special teams play over the past few seasons, every position should be up for grabs when it comes to the specialist. With this is in mind, I actually believe Edwards has a better chance of winning the starting job over Long than many would probably believe. His averages aren’t much less over the past two seasons and Edwards has shown better consistency in his placement when it comes to pinning the opponent deep. Those types of plays do add up when it comes to winning close games and Edwards gives the team an edge in the battle for “hidden yards.” Expect a close battle in training camp.