After playing on trial with his first club Carlisle and also League Two side Rochdale, Edwards was snapped up by Conference National side Exeter City. After signing for the Grecians in 2006, he established himself as a first team regular in the heart of the defence for Exeter City and in December 2007, City manager Paul Tisdale appointed Rob as player-coach at Exeter: coaching the reserves, while still being a member of the first team. In fact, he was the only member of the squad to start in all 46 matches of Exeter's 2007–08 campaign. That season culminated in Edwards scoring the winning goal at Wembley on 18 May 2008 in Exeter's 2008 Conference National play-off Final win over Cambridge United securing the club's return to the Football League.