Braylon Edwards is a physical freak. He is 6'3" tall, 218 pounds, and owns 4.3 speed in the 40 yard dash. These attributes make him a very difficult matchup on deep patterns. He is difficult to keep up with. It is difficult to win a ball in the air against him.
It takes more than just physical talent to be a good deep threat, though. That is why David Clowney is not an elite one. Edwards runs deep routes extremely well. He is very deceptive on them. Braylon is adept at making subtle body movements and small changes of direction to gain separation.
With that said, some of his success deep is simply being able to outrun the guy covering him. Combining these attributes, he can be a lethal target. His 17.1 yard average per reception is a testament to that.
It is also testament to him not being much else than a deep threat. Underneath patterns are not really his forte aside from slants where he gets the ball and can pick up a head of steam. He is such a big target that one would assume he would be more included in the red zone. That wasn't the case, though. Santonio Holmes had more targets there despite playing four less games. Holmes seemed to be the preferred choice on fade passes as Brian Schotteheimer liked using his ability to get his feet down.
Instead of focusing on what he does not do, though, let us just appreciate Braylon for the value he brings as a deep target.