The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season is over, already eliminated from the postseason after suffering a 42-21 loss at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. They just barely made the postseason with a 9-7-1 record and a little help from their friends.
This is an offseason of major change, with the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the possible retirement of general manager Kevin Colbert, and the decisions about the futures of many important players to be made, such as Joe Haden, Stephon Tuitt, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and others.
Aside from exploring their options at the quarterback position, the top global priority, once again, figures to be addressing the offensive line, which they did not do quite adequately enough a year ago. Dan Moore Jr. looks like he may have a future as a full-time starter, but Kendrick Green was clearly not ready. Chukwuma Okorafor is heading into free agency, as is Trai Turner.
These are the sorts of topics among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked. There is rarely a concrete answer, but this is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all their uncertainty.
Question: At what price would the Steelers be interested in re-signing Terrell Edmunds?
The Steelers have a laundry list of key players who are scheduled to be free agents next month, some of whom fall into sort of a gray area—players who are roughly replacement-level performers who you might like to retain—for a fair or modest price.
I think fifth-year veteran safety Terrell Edmunds is a good example of that. The fact that he was a first-round pick at this point is irrelevant. The only things that matter is how he plays, what he will cost, and what the team’s other options are if they don’t re-sign him.
The team always speaks highly of him. Mike Tomlin praises his durability and availability, for instance. Minkah Fitzpatrick never misses an opportunity to exalt him and more or less say that he’d rather not work with anybody else.
I am strongly inclined to assume that the Steelers want to re-sign Edmunds. The question is what he will cost, and they probably won’t know that until free agency starts. How will other teams value him? He’s never been a Pro Bowler or even come particularly close, but he’s a mostly solid starter who has in recent years started to play more instinctually and make more plays.
It would seem to me, and it does seem to be the broad conclusion, that Edmunds probably falls within the $5-6 million range, give or take. As the position currently stands, that would land him alongside names like Quandre Diggs, Eric Murray, Vonn Bell, Chuck Clark, Kareem Jackson, and Eric Rowe. I don’t think those are entirely unfair comparisons.
