Second DB chosen to give UK football three players among top 100 picks in NFL Draft

Three rounds of the NFL Draft, three Wildcats off the board.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Mike Edwards with the 99th overall pick during the third round on Friday. Edwards joined fellow defensive back Lonnie Johnson, a second-round selection by the Houston Texans earlier in the evening, as a day-two pick following the selection of Josh Allen, the No. 7 overall pick, on Thursday.

Edwards, a Cincinnati native, played in all 51 games of his career at UK and started the final 44. He’s second all-time among defensive backs in program history with 318 career tackles, behind Darryl Bishop, who had 348 in the early 1970s.

He became UK’s 18th third-round pick. Kentucky will finish with at least three NFL Draft selections for the first time since 2010, when Corey Peters (third round), Trevard Lindley (fourth round) and John Conner (fifth round) were all picked.

NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein wrote of him before the draft: “Edwards has the instincts and range to become an eventual starter at safety, but some evaluators might view him as a big nickel with the size to handle bigger slot receivers and the toughness to get his nose dirty in run support. Edwards is a smart, tough and consistent player who could find early starting work if he tests well.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2019 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Second DB chosen to give UK football three players among top 100 picks in NFL Draft."