The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex earlier than they had anticipated, having been ousted before they even reached the postseason, which unfortunately marks the sixth consecutive season in which they failed to win a postseason game—tying their longest drought of the Super Bowl era. Yet again, they find themselves undergoing the exit meeting process earlier than anticipated, which means so are we.
The Steelers did arguably perform at or above expectations this year by going 9-8 and nearly making the postseason at all, a reflection of just how much talent they lost during the offseason, from Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Haden to most of their wide receiver room, not to mention Stephon Tuitt’s decision to retire.
While we might not know all the details about what goes on between head coach Mike Tomlin and his players during these exit meetings, we do know how we would conduct those meetings if they were let up to us. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2022 season.
Player: Terrell Edmunds
Position: S
Experience: 5 Years
The fifth-year option for first-round picks was instituted in 2011. They’ve had to make 10 decisions so far over whether or not to pick up a player’s option, including one they didn’t draft themselves in Minkah Fitzpatrick. They opted not to pick up the options for Jarvis Jones (2013), Artie Burns (2016), Terrell Edmunds (2018), and Devin Bush (2019, the most recent).
Of those four, Edmunds was the only one they re-signed, though they could still re-sign Bush. It’s widely expected that they won’t, however. But they were willing to let Edmunds go. They reportedly were eying two other safeties as options in free agency after letting him test the market, one of which they also signed.
But Edmunds did finally re-sign on a one-year contract shortly before the draft. He signed a Four-Year Player Benefit deal, which allowed the Steelers to pay him around $2.5 million at a reduced cap charge. They could re-sign him to a similar deal this off-season.
He played well enough to earn a similar deal. He had his most consistent season to date, even if it’s not reflected in his stats. Just in terms of his performance on a play-to-play basis, you could be more confident that he was going to do his job. He still lacks impact playmaking in spite of that.
But he will be looking for a long-term deal as he hits the open market once again. The question is whether or not he will find it. He told reporters last summer that he fielded some offers for two or three years at the outset but as free agency moved along they turned into one-year offers.
The safety market is fairly strong this offseason, though, and that should make it easier for Pittsburgh to re-sign him, assuming they want to. If they were put in a position where they had to choose one safety over the other, they could consider re-signing Damontae Kazee instead.
