A first-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018, safety Terrell Edmunds got his first taste of free agency this offseason before signing back on a one-year deal. While it wasn’t the most thrilling process in his life, it is one he will have to go back through next March, at a time when he hopes the safety market—and his own value—is more robust. Though he did have suitors.
“It was just a waiting process. We were in communication with a lot of different teams”, he said of the free agency process while speaking to the media yesterday, audio of which aired on 93.7 The Fan. “I had a few offers out there, but it was just like, trying to figure out the best situation”.
“At one point, I was gonna take a two- or three-year deal, then it started doing one-year deals, and then it was all about the best situation, and this is the best situation for me”, he continued. “I’m glad to be back, it’s time to work now”.
Though he was not drafted with the intention that he would start immediately, that is more or less what happened once the safety they signed in free agency that year, Morgan Burnett, began the season injured. Edmunds started the opener, rotated when Burnett got back in Week 2 before the latter was injured again, and then never left the lineup again.
Edmunds has only missed one game in his career, and has totaled 340 tackles with five interceptions, 21 passes defensed, three sacks, and 12 tackles for loss. He has logged more than 4000 snaps in the Steelers’ defense over the past four years—a big reason that he felt he should just stay put.
“Really, it’s just the best situation”, he said of why he chose to re-sign with the Steelers. “Back with my guys, I don’t have to meet a whole lot of new faces, learn a new defense, I can go out there and just play my game and feel comfortable, so it’s just the best situation for me”.
No longer in the Zoom era, reporters tend to wander in and out of media sessions once again, which means that duplication of question has once again become abundant, so Edmunds was later asked a second time why he felt Pittsburgh was the best situation for him, and he elaborated a bit more.
“I’m comfortable here”, he said. “My teammates, I’m about to go out there with some more dawgs. And then, I already know the defense. And then I’m beside Mink [Minkah Fitzpatrick]. You know, that helps out everything too. Just being with the same faces, the same group, the same system, that helps out everything”.
The Steelers were reportedly interested in three safeties this offseason: Edmunds, Damontae Kazee, and former All-Pro Tyrann Mathieu. Nobody really knows if they ever actually formally offered Mathieu a contract, but they did end up signing the other two. And Fitzpatrick figures to get an awful lot richer sometime during training camp. Edmunds will be looking for a modest windfall next March.
