Herm Edwards will take his first spin on ESPN this afternoon. He'll be making his debut on NFL Live today at 4pm, and while I'm still skeptical about his ability to say anything controversial, he tells USA Today that he won't be holding anything back.

Herm Edwards, fired weeks ago as the Kansas City Chiefs' coach, makes his ESPN debut Wednesday on NFL Live. He says he'll be "critical" but not "condescending." He won't rule out returning to coaching but sounds resigned to having no chance of future Gatorade baths: "I'm really going to put my heart and soul into this. If this can take me for the rest of my life in football, I'm OK with that."

Edwards, who'll show what he can do by regularly appearing on NFLLive, SportsCenter and ESPNews before ESPN's regular-season assignments are finalized, says he got feelers from other networks. But ESPN allowed him to feel "at home" and carry on his larger purpose: "We're all in this, at the end of the day, to promote the game of football."

ESPN producer Seth Markman says that, after Edwards did some ESPN cameos last season, "We knew right away" that Edwards would be a good recruit. And Edwards suggests wearing TV makeup at work doesn't mean he expects to get by with a wink and a smile: "Even in this job, you still have to work at it. Those are your words."

Not that I would tell Mr. Markman who to do his job, but that statement was the exact opposite of how fans felt about Edwards' previous performance on the network. He was a current coach at the time, so it was understandable that he wouldn't burn bridges, but he brought nothing to the table. I think his personality fits an analyst role, and the above state of mind he has is the right way to approach the role as an ex-player/coach.

Hopefully this go around will work out better for ESPN, but I still find it funny that networks are scrambling to hire recently fired GMs and coaches. They were fired for a reason, you know?

Herm Edwards eager to leap from sideline to ESPN airwaves (USA Today)