Braylon Edwards has been disappointing for the 49ers, to say the least. On one hand, he's been hampered by injuries, and that's all quite understandable, but on the other - he was signed to be a number one wide receiver and he hasn't been that. If Michael Crabtree wasn't starting to come into his own over the past few weeks, the 49ers would be in a very bad place, especially with Josh Morgan on injured reserve.
The problem with Edwards is that the injuries have been constant, and that he hasn't been a help out there when hampered by them. The team is short on receivers, and are essentially forced to put him out there every week. When they took on the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving, there's no nice way to put it: Edwards was an extreme liability on the field.
He was only targeted three times, but that's not because Alex Smith was neglecting him. Edwards ran slow, lazy routes and gave up on plays. On the play that eventually went for an interception at the end of the half, it was certainly a bad throw, but there is no reason whatsoever that the ball should have been picked. On one hand, Edwards sort of gave up and didn't even go for position on the ball and on the other, he didn't even try and disrupt the defender. Hell, draw a penalty at that point.
You shouldn't draw your entire opinion of the guy from that one play, but it really put an exclamation point on his play this year. It's not that the phrase "gave up on plays," means that in the literal sense ... it could have happened for any reason. Of course the guy is injured, so, really, the solution is simple.
Sit him on Sunday. Don't play him against the St. Louis Rams - give Kyle Williams some more touches, see how that works out. Edwards has always been a receiver with phenomenal big play potential. If he's not 100%, he shouldn't be out there, especially against a team like the Rams.