Since the season opener, the Pittsburgh Steelers have brought back safety Terrell Edmonds. The team’s first-round pick in the 2018 draft, Edmonds has spent his first five seasons in the Steel City after spending time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, and Jacksonville Jaguars.
With other teams, his defensive opportunities have been far less than they were in Pittsburgh. Given that, his immediate role is likely to be on special teams, with Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott in the mix. So I wanted to look at his career contributions in that context.
Below are the special teams safety regular-season snaps and performances since 2018, with Edmonds’ results highlighted.
Most notably, Edmonds’ most recent season, 2023, saw him comfortably above average in snaps and grade among safeties in a six-year sample size (71.8 grade, 217 snaps). He was a key special teams player, playing on all five units.
Edmonds had his best career special teams grade (75.1) despite having a much smaller opportunity (107 snaps) in his final season in Pittsburgh in 2022. It’s encouraging to see him grow over the past two seasons and become an above-average special teams player.
Previously, Edmonds had spent far less time on special teams as a defensive starter, with below-average opportunities and below-average performance. His 2018 rookie season included his most special teams snaps in a season (222), which was eerily similar to last season, but the latter quality was much better.
For example, Edmonds had three special teams tackles but missed two in 2018, and he has seven total tackles and zero missed tackles in 2023. He also earned a solid 80.2 tackle grade on defense in 2023, ranking 11th among safeties (minimum 450 snaps).
Speaking of his defense, the encouraging thing about Edmonds was his pass rushing. Here are the safeties’ total pass-rushing grades and true pass sets (excluding plays that help the offense, like play-action, screens, and RPOs):
Edmonds was a key contributor as a pass rusher in 2023. His 76.1 pass-rush grade ranks solidly at 10th, but he shined even more in true pass sets, with a respectable 90.3 grade that ranked fourth among 55 qualified safeties. That included three total pressures and two sacks on 17 pass-rushes. Two of the pressures and two sacks came in true pass sets, the latter of which ranked fourth.
That production is no exception, and he could have back-to-back campaigns, including another two-sack season in Pittsburgh in 2022. Edmonds has also recorded at least four pressures and a sack in four of his five years in Pittsburgh, totaling 25 pressures and seven sacks for his career.
It remains to be seen what Edmonds’ role and opportunity will be, but it’s encouraging to see that Edmonds has proven to be a strength on defense and on special teams.
With Pittsburgh losing so many special teamers last season and having a less-than-desirable 2024 overall, the data points to Edmonds being a good contributor to the unit’s positive trends. Combine that with his experience in the Steelers defense and the variety of alignments he’s been able to play (including deep, box, and slot) throughout his career, and the depth of the secondary looks brighter as well.
If Edmunds’ field trip bears fruit, let’s hope the reunion and the research results turn out as well as they did on paper.
