Pittsburgh Steelers fourth-year safety Terrell Edmunds is in a contract year. That’s because the team elected this offseason not to pick up his fifth-year option as a former first-round draft pick, as they did for his fellow safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick.
While by no means perfect, he is putting together an altogether solid season. He has 47 tackles at this time, including a career-high five tackles for loss, in addition to a sack, an interception, a quarterback hit, and two passes defensed. On Wednesday, he was asked to assess his own play thus far.
“I feel like it’s going well”, he told reporters. “Still a lot that I can work on, a lot that I can get better with, but, you know, just one game at a time. Just keep that laser focus on winning the football game regardless of how messy it may be, but just keep going out there and helping the team the best way I can”.
All things considered, Edmunds is coming off one of his better games of the year in the Steelers’ tie against the Detroit Lions. He recorded five tackles in the game, including two for loss, as well as a sack, a hit, and a pass defensed.
He will likely have to be the top man in the secondary this week, with free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on the Reserve/COVID-19 List. Cornerback Joe Haden may not be available, either, after leaving Sunday’s game with an injury. It remains to be seen how he finishes out the week of practice.
Edmunds has only played two games without either Fitzpatrick or Sean Davis starting alongside him, that being the 2018 finale, during which Jordan Dangerfield started, and the 2019 opener lining up next to Kameron Kelly, in both cases due to injury.
It’s not even 100 percent clear who will start at free safety should Fitzpatrick not be activated; head coach Mike Tomlin has strongly implied that it won’t be a one-man job to fill his shoes. Still, the prevailing favorite is probably Tre Norwood, though Miles Killebrew is also an option as a veteran with experience.
Especially if Killebrew starts, it’s likely that Edmunds would be asked to play more of a free safety role during the game himself. He does have the athletic ability to play there, and there has never been any question about his conditioning level.
