The Steelers and former safety Terrell Edmunds went their separate ways following the 2022 season. It saw the end to a tenure with the team that saw Edmunds improve year over year after being a surprising pick in the 2018 NFL Draft for the team. Now with the Eagles, Edmunds is looking for a new horizon to make some noise.
However, that does not mean that Edmunds has let go of the noise he heard in Pittsburgh over his career. An often maligned player, Edmunds was considered by many pundits, and as such, fans, a reach when selected. That stigma travelled with him until his exit in Pittsburgh despite consistent improvement over his five seasons with the team.
Joining the 2nd Wind Podcast, Edmunds broke down just what went wrong in Pittsburgh. He is appreciative of the organization and what they brought to the table over his first five NFL seasons, but there is some noise that he believes went over the limit outside of the organization’s walls at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
“I think every year I progressed, and that was my main goal every year,” Edmunds said. “Regardless, if I had, and I’m just throwing out random numbers, if I had ten tackles my rookie year, my goal was to have 15 tackles next year, and I did that. If I had one interception, or no interceptions, or one PBU, I wanted to have two or four PBUs, and I did that. So, it’s like every year I felt like I progressed, the numbers they show it. I wouldn’t say I left meat on the bone. Of course, you hold yourself to a high standard, but you constantly chasing greatness. With Coach Tomlin, we are constantly chasing greatness.”
Edmunds is not who he wants to be on the field yet. But he realizes that despite having higher expectations and enduring some hate from the outside, that is simply natural for his situation. It’s impossible to please everyone. Just because Edmunds never become an All-Pro does not mean he did not turn into a quality player.
Still only 26 years old, there could be some considerable upside that Edmunds had with or without the Steelers. It’s completely possible, and he is coming off his statistically best season in the NFL after playing in multiple roles on the back end of the Pittsburgh defense.
“I don’t think you’re ever gonna make everyone accept you anyways,” Edmunds said. “If you do a poll of 100 people, 75% of people gonna say one thing, 25 are gonna say something else. Like, everybody is not gonna be on the same page. As long as you prove it to your own self, I’m big on writing my own goals, once I reach them, I can keep on going. Honestly, I don’t go into what other people say. Some of that stuff is unrealistic. I remember my rookie year I was looking at it, somebody told me ‘I want you to have 10 picks, 150 tackles.’ What? They want you to be on some Madden create a player, I’m like, bro, you said 10 picks, 150 tackles? Who did that?”
Edmunds will have the opportunity to take his career to new heights and reach those goals that he wants to reach in his career. By any standard, his NFL career is one that has been successful. While never a truly flashy player, he became one of the more reliable players that was on the backend for the Steelers in recent memory.