Philip Lee Edwards (born 8 November 1985) is an English former professional footballer who made 480 appearances in the EFL.

Edwards began his football career at Wigan Athletic, progressing through the club's youth system before signing a professional contract at the age of 18.

After a season of regular first-team football at Rochdale, Edwards joined League Two club Burton Albion in June 2013.

[6] He returned to Wigan in October 2004, playing regularly for the reserve team,[7][8][9][10][11] although did not make any first-team appearances for the club.

[4] Edwards signed for Accrington Stanley on loan in October 2005, making his debut in a 3–3 Football League Trophy draw away at Rotherham United.

[12][13] He made his league debut on 29 October 2005, playing the whole match as Accrington beat York City 2–1 at the Crown Ground.

[33] Remaining at Accrington for the 2008–09 season, Edwards made his first appearance of the campaign in a 1–0 home defeat to newly promoted Aldershot Town on 9 August 2008.

[34] Accrington manager John Coleman praised Edwards for his form during the start of the season in October 2008, stating "I couldn't pay him enough compliments.

[35] Edwards remained a first-team regular before being substituted after 17 minutes in Accrington's 2–1 win against Shrewsbury Town on 21 October 2008.

[36] Despite needing eight stitches in his knee, Edwards played in Accrington's following league match four days later, a 1–0 home defeat to Wycombe Wanderers.

[41] Edwards scored nine times from central defence during the 2009–10 season, playing all 57 of the club's matches as Accrington finished in 15th place in League Two.

[49] Accrington assistant manager Jimmy Bell stated "Phil has been offered a good deal and we're quietly confident, although there have been a few rumours about one or two clubs being interested.

However, the manager got in touch with my agent and discussed the offer and when I thought I had the chance of playing League One football I decided to sign for Stevenage".

[54] He made his Stevenage debut on the first day of the 2011–12 season, playing the whole match in a 0–0 home draw against Exeter City.

[57][58] After falling out of favour under new Stevenage manager Gary Smith, Edwards joined Rochdale on 9 March 2012, on a loan agreement until the end of the 2011–12 season.

[66][67] He opted to leave Rochdale after his first full season there, signing for fellow League Two club Burton Albion on a free transfer on 29 June 2013.

[68][69] On signing Edwards, Burton manager Gary Rowett stated "In Phil we have a player who knows what it takes to be successful at this level as well as the league above and he is a very consistent performer.

[70] He played regularly in defence during his first season with the club, making 51 appearances and scoring two goals, as Burton missed out on promotion after losing 1–0 to Fleetwood Town in the 2014 Football League Two play-off final.

[73][77] After making just one appearance for Burton in the opening month of the 2016–17 season,[78] Edwards made the move back into League One when he signed a season-long loan contract with Oxford United on 19 August 2016.

[79] Burton manager Nigel Clough stated that whilst he did not want to loan out Edwards, it would have been "selfish" to keep him in the squad just in case of injuries.

[78][80] Released by Burton at the end of the season, Edwards signed a two-year contract with League One club Bury on 14 May 2017.