Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds needs more than ‘big hits’ to take a step forward

Steelers strong safety Terrell Edmunds has been praised early in training camp for some ‘big hits’ in practice, but here’s why he needs to do so much more than that in 2020.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the middle of their 2020 training camp, and fans are justifiably excited to hear about which players are standing out. Obviously, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his surgically repaired elbow have been the talk of camp so far, and T.J. Watt is always going to be among the names that ‘stood out’ on any given day.

One player who is surprisingly stirring up some buzz is starting strong safety, Terrell Edmunds. The third-year safety has been reported doing a nice job coming up and supporting the run, as well as laying some ‘big hits’ in padded practices. Mark Kaboly of The Athletic even declared Edmunds one of the standouts at camp earlier in the week.

Unfortunately, young safety has so much more work to do in his game than just being able to help out against the run.

Where the Steelers safety must improve most in 2020

We all know that Edmunds is an athlete, and his 4.47 speed is evident on the football field. However, tackling is something we already saw him do at a pretty high level in year two. Sadly, there are plenty of things the former first-round draft choice did not do well in his second season.

Despite his prototypical frame and athleticism for the position, Edmunds has struggled in coverage early in his NFL career. He’s been too quick to bite on play fakes and late to react and recover in zone. Because of this, the results have been poor.

According to Pro Football References advanced statistics, Edmunds allowed 36 of 50 passes to be completed (72 percent) for a whopping 514 yards and 4 touchdowns. All of this equates to surrendering a 131.6 passer rating when targeted last season. What’s most concerning is that Edmunds allowed 10.3 yards per target – essentially allowing a first-down when the ball is thrown his direction.

This isn’t something that is going to change overnight. In fact, analytics show that Edmunds was worse in coverage in his second season than he was as a rookie (allowed an 83.0 passer rating in 2018). There is legitimate cause for concern here. If he doesn’t sure up his mental lapses in coverage, it won’t take long for quarterbacks to find the weak link in Pittsburgh’s secondary.

In addition, Edmunds has created takeaways at an alarmingly low rate for a safety. Though we obviously shouldn’t expect a Troy Polamalu-level impact in this department, Edmunds is responsible for just one takeaway in his two-year NFL career. Considering the Steelers took the ball away 38 times in 2019 alone, Edmunds has contributed very little in this category. He has now gone 30 games without creating a takeaway on defense (his only was an interception that came in Week 3 of his rookie year).

While Edmunds has a ton of potential based on his range, length, and athletic traits, his play last year was more than concerning. Let’s hope he can turn heads at training camp for making plays in coverage and not just in the run game. The Steelers need him to take a big step forward in year three if he wants to start living up to his first-round status.