You know James Conner, Jaylen Samuels, and Benny Snell.
You might want to get to know Trey Edmunds.
That shouldn’t be too difficult though. He was on the roster last year, active in a few games late in the season. Though he didn’t log a snap on offense, he ran down kicks and punts before signing a futures deal after the year ended. He’s also Terrell Edmunds’ older brother.
And according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, it’s possible you see both Edmunds’ on the 53 man roster come Week One. The Worldwide Leader asked all 32 of their beat writers to offer their surprise offseason standouts. And Fowler led with Edmunds’ name. In part, he wrote:
“Edmunds has been hard to miss during offseason work. He won several drills against linebackers in the open field and looks comfortable in the system as a two-year NFL veteran who also has played for New Orleans. The big brother of Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds will be difficult to cut.”
As far as I’ve heard, this is the first time a media member has brought Edmunds’ name up. But it stands to reason he’ll get lots of exposure in the preseason, considering the team knows what Conner can do – and wants to keep him healthy.
Edmunds is another of the Steelers’ typical power backs. Listed at 6’2 223, he rushed for nearly 700 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2013 as a freshman at Virginia Tech. His career fell off from there, carrying the ball only 94 times the next three seasons and transferring to Maryland for his senior season. Undrafted, he signed with the New Orleans Saints in 2017. Pittsburgh brought him onto their practice squad in early September.
Of course, just as we wrote with WR Diontae Spencer, it’s easy for running backs to excel in this environment. All the reports indicate the backs did well from Conner to Samuels, Snell, even Ralph Webb got a couple blurbs about him. Camp will be the true litmus test for these guys. Still, aside from Conner and Samuels, Edmunds is the only other back in the room with Sunday experience and has value on special teams. That’s a good place for him to start and possibly take advantage of an injury should it occur.
Terrell Watson was in a similar situation a few years ago before making noise in camp, especially during the team’s goal line session, and wound up making the team, albeit for a brief time.
Fowler lists a couple other surprises in his section which you can check out at the link here.
