The Steelers are now in their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead, they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answering, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: How much of a pay raise has Terrell Edmunds earned since last offseason?
The Steelers have a number of notable starters scheduled to become unrestricted free agents next month. Outside of cornerback Cameron Sutton, none of them have been here longer than safety Terrell Edmunds, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2018.
While the past five years have borne out that he does not necessarily fit the pay scale of the traditional ‘first-round pedigree’, Edmunds has been a riser throughout his career. Most regard the 2022 season as his strongest a year after playing on a Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract that allowed the Steelers to pay him roughly $2.5 million at a reduced cap it.
Pittsburgh would surely love to keep him on the same type of deal, but many expect that he will have greater success on the open market this time around. At least in the sense of managing to find a suitable deal he’s willing to sign that’s worth more than what the Steelers can pay him at a discount.
Edmunds discussed his free agency process last season a couple of times after re-signing shortly before the draft, noting that he had some conversations about multi-year contracts. The implication seemed to be that he may have delayed too long and his best options ended up turning elsewhere while he waited.
He has said since the 2022 season ended that he wants to stay in Pittsburgh and considers it his home base. The Steelers, I imagine, would like to retain him as well. The big question is how much (more) it would cost them to keep him around this time, after they were willing to let him walk a year ago.
