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PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) -Now that he's become the Buffalo Bills' starting quarterback, Trent Edwards is enjoying some of the perks that come with the job.
Like accepting an invitation from Wayne Gretzky to play in a charitable golf tournament in June and getting to rub shoulders with The Great One and John Elway.
As enjoyable as that was, the compelling memory that Edwards came away with was of a struggling Nationwide Tour player who was in his group during the Pro-Am.
"He was staying in a room above a bar and had worked the person down to $60 a night," Edwards recalled. "Me, I'm going down to the Westin and staying in a nice room with my caddy, which they paid for me and him to fly out."
Edwards kept tabs on the player, and noted that he missed the cut.
"You see the way they live their lives, they're just trying to make ends meet," Edwards said. "He missed the cut and he's not going to make any money. So you see that side of it and you appreciate it a lot more."
The lesson was evident: No matter what sport, it's not easy to make it as a professional athlete.
It was a keen reminder for the situation Edwards finds himself in entering his second NFL season. For everything the third-round draft pick out of Stanford accomplished as a rookie last year, when he took over the starting job ahead of J.P. Losman, there's always another challenge ahead and the cut that looms.
Unless your last name's Manning or Brady, there's not much job security among NFL quarterbacks. And that holds especially true in Buffalo, where the Bills have gone through a cast of characters both young - from Todd Collins to Rob Johnson and Losman - and old - from Doug Flutie to Drew Bledsoe and Kelly Holcomb - without finding an adequate replacement since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired following the 1996 season.
And there's no guarantee, yet, that Edwards is their man following a season in which he went 5-5 in 10 appearances, and did enough to earn the Bills' confidence to provide him a clear shot at taking over the starting job. But make no mistake, there's still plenty for him to prove before the Bills will be regarded as "his team."
"If you're not winning, if you're not making the playoffs, if you're not putting fans in the stands and making money, then you're not going to have a job the following season," Edwards said. "So you have to take advantage of that window of opportunity."
Edwards didn't exactly set the Bills' popgun attack on fire in a season in which the offense produced only 20 touchdowns - a franchise-low for a 16-game campaign.
He finished with 1,630 yards passing, completed only 56 percent of his attempts and had seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. Edwards also stumbled in closing the season with three losses, in which he combined to go 38-of-89 for 418 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
SabreRay 
