Although the 49ers have not officially announced anything, Braylon Edwards tweeted out this morning that he has been released by the team. He released this statement at his website:
I was released today by the 49ers due to my injury that required more time to rehab and hasn't allowed me to re-sync with the offense. I wish the 49ers organization the best of luck during the Playoffs. I will be working hard this off season to strengthen my knee and prepare for the 2012 season. Thanks for your continued support and for being such loyal fans.
The team's recent injuries leave the team in a bit of a pickle heading into Sunday's game with the St. Louis Rams. If Ted Ginn remains sidelined with his ankle injury and Kyle Williams is unable to go, that would leave the team with Michael Crabtree and Brett Swain on their active roster. The team also has Joe Hastings and John Matthews on the roster. Hastings sounds like a likely roster candidate, but we'll find out more in the coming days.
This makes the bye all the more important as the team looks to get their remaining receivers healthy. If they can get Ginn and Williams together for the playoffs (as one would expect), this becomes less of an issue at the receiver position. The loss of Walker remains a problem, but for the purposes of the Braylon Edwards release, it does not strike me as a particularly complicated issue.