Now that the 2021 season is over, bringing yet another year of disappointment, a fifth 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 season and into the offseason 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: While the Steelers already failed to pick up Edmunds’ fifth-year option, he put together a solid 2021 season, and the talk thus far this offseason does sound like they have very legitimate interest in retaining him as a free agent.
This might not go over all too well, since Terrell Edmunds is not the most popular player among fans, but my reading of the tea leaves this offseason makes it sound likely that he is going to continue to be a member of the Steelers beyond the 2021 season.
A 2018 first-round draft pick, Edmunds has only missed one game in his career, and has started all but one, the second game of his rookie season, and head coach Mike Tomlin and the front office always make sure to praise him for his availability.
He did start every game of the 2021 season, recording 89 tackles, including by far a career-high eight tackles for loss, along with two interceptions, with six passes defensed, as well as a sack. It was an overall solid season, during which he seemed to be less prone to the sort of drawbacks we’ve come to expect.
Four years into his career, it’s probably not overwhelmingly likely that Edmunds is going to transform into a Pro Bowl player, but he has at this point established himself as a relatively stable presence, and a good pairing with Minkah Fitzpatrick, who is very likely to be retained on a long-term contract extension later this year.
The fact that the Steelers have plenty of other holes on their roster to consider, I think, only makes it even more likely that they are going to want to keep Edmunds in the fold, because it gives them one less thing to worry about.
