The Pittsburgh Steelers defense saw a major rise in status in 2019 leading the league in takeaways and sacks. Where does Terrell Edmunds fit in this year?
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds saw the 2019 season end with him being dubbed ‘the weak link’ of an otherwise elite defense by today’s NFL standards. The real question is why?
He has already cemented himself as the best defensive back the Steelers have drafted since William Gay in 2007. When we really think about where he stands, he is the only defensive back Pittsburgh has drafted in over 10 years that has held his place on the field.
The end of the 2017 season
When you ask most Steelers fans about the 2017 season, they will more than likely tell you that our cornerstone on that defense, Ryan Shazier, went down with a devastating spinal injury in a Week 13 match-up with the Bengals. The Steelers would go on to ride their offensive talent to the AFC divisional round of the playoffs, even as their run defense began to crumble.
Then in that game, the Steelers would lose a wild, albeit somewhat messy, shootout against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The final score was 45-42, and the star of that game would be Leonard Fournette as he ran for 3 touchdowns. Up until week 13, the Steelers defense had become stingy and made plays when it mattered most.
Their one weakness had been stopping big plays. Tackling in the secondary was a major issue and the Steelers would give up a total of 8 touchdowns to opposing offenses of over 50 yards, according to Pro Football Reference. The Steelers had a problem they needed to solve heading into the next season. Many thought that the Steelers were going to target one of two positions with their top pick either inside linebacker, or safety.
The 28th pick of the 2018 NFL Draft
Safeties like Derwin James and Minkah Fitzpatrick were seen as the cream of the crop heading into the draft. No one expected that either of those players would fall to Pittsburgh. With polarizing players like Saquon Barkley, Baker Mayfield, and Lamar Jackson, Steelers fans weren’t paying attention to the safety from Virginia Tech.
Even with extremely high measurables, being just under 6’1, weighing 220, and running a 4.47 40 yard-dash at the NFL Combine, many had him graded as a mid-round selection. The Steelers would select Terrell Edmunds with the 28th pick of the draft.
An immediate yet unexciting impact
Edmunds would come in and start right away to end up with the second-highest tackle total of any member of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018. His athletic ability shined on the field as he was quick to be around the ball almost every play. Even as his coverage left a bit to be desired, he was quite possibly the largest contributor to turning around a problem that had plagued the Steelers in 2017.
Pittsburgh replaced 3 starters from the previous season. After having lost Ryan Shazier to injury, they replaced him with Jon Bostic. The Steelers benched their starting cornerback, Artie Burns, in favor of Coty Sensabaugh mid-season. Finally, they replaced their starting safety Mike Mitchell, with then-rookie, Terrell Edmunds.
The Steelers defense would only allow a single offensive touchdown over 50 yards. The Steelers had problems generating takeaways and overall performed at a slightly worse level defensively. But they had solved their biggest problem from the previous season by drafting a dependable tackler in the secondary.
A sophomore year with mixed results
After a harsh start to the 2019 season, the Steelers added Minkah Fitzpatrick via trade. It freed up Edmunds to do something no safety for the Steelers has done since Ryan Clark in 2013 – he registered over 100 tackles on the season and per CBS he would be ranked at 35 in the league among all positions in tackles.
That was good enough to be 7th among all safeties in tackles. He failed to generate any takeovers himself in 2019 and registered only two tackles for a loss. However, he managed to be part of the first pair of tacklers the Steelers had with over 100 tackles in the same season since 2013. He may not have been a human highlight reel in 2019, but he was exactly what the Steelers drafted him to be. That was a very sure tackler in the secondary and that is something they have not had since Ryan Clark departed.
Where does that leave him in 2020?
At 23 years old entering his third season in the NFL, Edmunds may not be a ball-hawk, and he hasn’t shown the ability to lock-down elite tight ends in the NFL yet. But with more time to develop a chemistry with Minkah Fitzpatrick things almost surely will go up from here.
This young safety was a security blanket for the other defensive backs when it came to taking risks and generating splash in 2019. We can expect him to only become more involved this year with an improving run defense and to take some risks himself in the passing game.
With the star-studded cast around him, Terrell Edmunds will be tested a lot in pass coverage this season and after seeing what he has done to help turn around the biggest problem with that defense only thee years ago now, I have no doubts he will live up to it.