Now that the regular season has begun, following yet another year of disappointment, a fourth consecutive season with no postseason victories, it’s time to take stock of where the Pittsburgh Steelers stand. Specifically where Steelers players stand individually based on what we have seen and are seeing over the course of the offseason and the regular season as it plays out. We will also be reviewing players based on their previous season and their prospects for the future. A stock evaluation can take a couple of different approaches and I’ll try to make clear my reasoning. In some cases, it will be based on more long-term trends. In other instances, it will be a direct response to something that just happened. Because of this, we can and will see a player more than once over the course of the season as we move forward.
Player: S Terrell Edmunds
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The fourth-year veteran is coming off of one of his better games in coverage this season, recording an interception and three passes defensed.
Terrell Edmunds isn’t going to be mistaken for Minkah Fitzpatrick anytime soon, and truth be told, for a strong safety with his physical and athletic ability, he should be more consistent against the run than he is. But given how low people often think of him, he is actually an underrated aspect of this Steelers defense.
He’s the sort of player whom you can trust to be where he’s supposed to be, and do what he’s supposed to be doing from an assignment perspective, whether or not he actually successfully executes that assignment. You’re not going to often find him intentionally in the wrong gap unless the whole front seven is screwed up, which…well, it often has been this year.
But he deserves credit when it’s earned, and he made a couple of major defensive plays for the defense yesterday that helped them narrowly advance to the postseason, thanks to two victories in overtime, including their own.
One was an interception. It was an overthrown ball, but he had to go low for it, and was only just barely able to keep it from hitting the ground while securing it. He also had a big pass defensed down the field by playing the man rather than the ball, getting his arm up between receiver and ball by reading body language and breaking up the pass, understanding that he couldn’t make the play if he looked back.
It’s little things like that that make you wonder if he’s coming back next season after all, even though they didn’t pick up his fifth-year option. If they can retain him on a reasonable deal of $4-5 million per season, I certainly think it’s possible that they find a way to keep Fitzpatrick and Edmunds together for a bit longer. They’ll already have enough holes elsewhere throughout the roster to worry about.
