Former NFL and Michigan wide receiver Braylon Edwards saved an 80-year-old man from an attack in Farmington Hills, Michigan and was interviewed by a local TV station about his heroics. After a workout at a YMCA location, Edwards said he heard some commotion in the locker room over how loudly some music was playing. Initially, he stayed out of the altercation until he heard a “thud” that led him to believe a fight had broken out.
When he went to investigate, he found a 25-year-old man beating an 80-year-old man. Edwards recalled, “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 heard 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,”
Edwards added. “He grabbed 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.” The alleged perpetrator ran from the scene, and police locked down several nearby schools as a precaution until the arrest was made, according to the report. Edwards said, “I didn’t know it was that serious. 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. But at the end of the day, that’s what you do.”
“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 take their life maybe,” Edwards said. “My mom, my grandmother, my father – in that moment, when you come back home, these are the people you think about.” The 80-year-old man is going to survive, per the report, and Edwards hopes to meet him once he is released from the hospital.
Edwards was a standout wide receiver for the Wolverines during the early 2000s and put together an incredible senior season in ’04 when he caught 97 passes for 1,330 yards and 15 touchdowns, making him a school legend. He went on to be selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2005 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns and played professional football for eight seasons with the Browns, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. His best year came in 2007 when he was named to the Pro Bowl as a member of the Browns.