4 reasons Steelers need to lock up SS Terrell Edmunds long-term

Continuity in Steelers secondary

There is something to be said about roster continuity from year to year – particularly at the safety position. As the last line of defense, it’s important to have a pair of safeties that can read and react to each other’s every move. We saw this on full display during the days of Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark.

Polamalu, a first-ballot Hall of Famer who will be inducted this August, was an aggressive player who would often improvise. Though Clark clearly was the ‘Robin’ to Polamalu’s ‘Batman’, he still had a very important role: making sure that he compensated for Polamalu’s aggressiveness.

When it comes to Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds, the roles are reversed, as it is Pittsburgh’s free safety who is the rangy playmaker, and their strong safety (Edmunds) isn’t able to take as many of those big changes. Because this duo is so young, the chemistry they have with each other is only going to build. If both are with the Steelers years down the line (and we know that Minkah will be), it will become second nature for them to read and react to every move the other safety makes.

Continuity and chemistry in the back half of the defense are more important than most fans realize, and this is good enough reason in itself to keep Edmunds around for the future. Like the Ryan Clark to the Troy Polamalu, he’s only going to help make Minkah better.