Getty Pittsburgh Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds reportedly signed with a rival on March 24.
It’s official. Safety Terrell Edmunds’ tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers is complete, and he will continue his NFL career with an NFC rival.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on March 24 that Edmunds is signing a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Edmunds is leaving Pittsburgh after five seasons. He posted 410 combined tackles, including 15 for loss, 9 quarterback hits, 26 pass defenses, 5 sacks and 5 interceptions in 79 career games.
Terrell Edmunds Says Goodbye to Steelers Nation
Edmunds’ half a decade in black and gold produced mixed results.
He arrived as a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft. The Steelers selected Edmunds over fellow safeties Jessie Bates and Justin Reid, both of whom had much faster starts to their careers than Edmunds.
Eventually, Edmunds grew into a solid contributor. He started 75 games and became a strong compliment to free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
While the Steelers didn’t pick up Edmunds’ fifth-year option, they did re-sign Edmunds last year on a one-year deal.
But if Edmunds had lived up to his hype as a first-round pick, the Steelers likely don’t feel the need to give up another first-rounder to acquire Fitzpatrick in a trade. And although the Steelers brought back Edmunds for a fifth year, it was because he agreed to a contract worth only $2.54 million for 2022.
Early in the offseason, Edmunds sounded hopeful that he would return again to Pittsburgh. There were even rumors that the safety would convince his brother, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, to sign with the Steelers.
But on March 24, Edmunds posted a cryptic tweet where he appeared to be saying good-bye to Pittsburgh.
Edmunds posted a career-high 105 combined tackles in 2019. He recorded a career-best 8 pass defenses in 2020 and then a career-high 8 tackles for loss in 2021.
During 2022, he had 70 combined tackles, including 3 for loss, 5 pass defenses, 2 quarterback hits and 2 sacks in 15 games.
How the Steelers Replace Terrell Edmunds
In a way, the Steelers have already replaced Edmunds. During the first week of free agency, the team re-signed safety Damontae Kazee.
The 2022 season was Kazee’s first in Pittsburgh. It was a rocky one, as he began the season with a broken forearm and then missed three games because of a suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
But Kazee played well in the final nine games of the year. Even with far fewer snaps, Kazee had more interceptions (2) than Edmunds last season.
The Steelers will feel the loss of Edmunds more from a depth and experience perspective.
General manager Omar Khan didn’t necessarily mean for the Kazee re-signing to be a direct replacement for Edmunds. The Steelers have also lost versatile cornerback Cam Sutton this offseason.
Kazee could line up in a lot of different spots as Sutton did on defense, but that would mean the Steelers finding another defensive back to fill Edmunds’ role. Other than Fitzpatrick and Kazee, the Steelers have three safeties on their roster, only one of which has significant experience.
Whether someone on the roster or another addition replaces Edmunds, the Steelers secondary will be in flux early during the 2022 season. Losing both a starting cornerback and safety, both of whom were on the defense for many years, in the same offseason can be difficult to overcome.