Terell Edmunds has been awarded the 2018 Joe Greene Award for top Pittsburgh Steelers rookie of the year, the team announced on Wednesday. Joe Haden was also honored, taking home The Chief Award, given to the player who shows the best relationship with the media.
Edmunds was an easy, clear choice for the rookie of the year. He’s started all but one game this year, recording 73 tackles, breaking up four passes, and intercepting one more. His play has progressed throughout the year after a bumpy start.
I grew more as I got snaps under my belt,” Edmunds said via Steelers.com’s Teresa Varley. “I got more involved on the field. I have made more plays, and now is the time to make more plays. I have to keep on developing.”
The rest of the rookie class either didn’t play or failed to make much of an impact. James Washington struggled to see the field for most of the year, Chukwuma Okorafor made only one start, while Mason Rudolph hasn’t played a snap all year. Jaylen Samuels didn’t see the field until the latter part of the season, Marcus Allen has appeared in just one game, and 7th rounder Josh Frazier didn’t make it out of training camp.
Fellow safety Sean Davis won the award back in 2016. Before Davis, the last Steelers’ defensive back to win the award was Chad Scott in 1997. JuJu Smith-Schuster was last year’s winner.
Haden has been a terrific interview on a weekly basis and his veteran leadership critical for the locker room. Even after Sunday’s frustrating loss, Haden was professional and honest post-game.
“It’s great to have a guy like that who is so humble about what he does and comes to work every day to get better for himself and help the guys around him get better,” Cam Sutton said about Haden via the team site.
David DeCastro won the award in 2017. Though position is sort of irrelevant here, Ike Taylor was the last DB to be honored with it, taking it home in 2013.
