Is there such a thing as objective success?
Well, of course there is, in rigidly defined systems. In an NFL season, for example, success is measured by winning, specifically by winning the Super Bowl. Every team’s objective is to win the league championship, so if you do, you succeed. If you don’t, then you don’t.
When it comes to assessing the merits of individual players, it gets trickier. What is a successful career? Everybody will define that differently, and for the athletes themselves, it’s important to have your own definition.
Take former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds, who was behind in the race right out of the gate. Assessed to be a first-round reach after drafted in 2018, when he merely developed into a fine starter, it couldn’t possibly measure up to what fan expectations required. Now with the Philadelphia Eagles, that’s not how he sees his first five years in the league.
“I think every year I progressed, and that was my main goal every year”, he said on the 2nd Wind podcast, co-hosted by one-time Steeler Jarvis Miller. “Those small steps that you’re taking, you’ve got to love that process. I’m enjoying the process getting to my main goal”.
To that end, many did seem to agree that he put together his best season in 2022, and many Steelers fans were actually hoping to retain him. The team instead decided to re-sign Damontae Kazee for presumably more than they offered Edmunds, and also brought in Keanu Neal on top of that.
In 15 games last season, Edmunds recorded 70 tackles with three for loss, two sacks, two hits, and five passes defensed, but the raw statistics don’t tell the whole story. One area in which he did improve was cutting down on the number of missed assignments and missed tackles. It’s all a part of continuing to get better, or as he says, chasing the impossible.
“You’re just always constantly chasing greatness, and it’s something we’ll never achieve, but we’re constantly chasing it over and over and over again”, he said. “And we’ll never achieve it. That’s just what makes us competitors, that will make us the top one percent of the world because we’re constantly chasing something that we’ll never get”.
I might hasten to advise not to take his usage of the word greatness too strictly there; I can say with confidence that he wasn’t saying that it’s impossible for him to be great. He was talking about an abstract greatness, which is always greater than where you are.
“I’m not the exact player I want to be”, he did acknowledge. “I’m not. I’ve been a great player, of course. I’ve been a good player. But I want to be the top of the top”. And to that end, he knows all he can do is keep working, and not worry about what those on the outside might say, including Steelers fans.
“I don’t think you’re ever going to make everyone accept you anywhere”, Edmunds said. “I don’t even really divvy into all the stuff that other people might say, because at the end of the day, some of that stuff is unrealistic”.
While we have no idea if this is the case, many have speculated, given the deal he ultimately signed with the Eagles, that one of the reasons he didn’t end up re-signing in Pittsburgh is because he felt it was time to step out of that first-round stigma. It was the only way he could continue to grow and do so without baggage.
