Terrell Edmunds is normally one of the most bubbly Steelers players you'll find, but on a Sunday afternoon two years ago in Pittsburgh, he sat dejected at his locker, dutifully answering questions while waiting for that particular postgame interview to end.
Edmunds had a day to forget in that 28-26 loss to the Seahawks in Week 2 of 2019. In a span of four plays midway through the fourth quarter, Edmunds was flagged for pass interference against Tyler Lockett on a pivotal second-and-20 play that advanced Seattle 38 yards, then allowed a 28-yard touchdown catch by DK Metcalf in the back left corner of the end zone to put the Steelers in a two-possession hole.
"They just made a play," Edmunds recalled Thursday after practice. "One play doesn't determine a game, but at the same time, that's a play you have to just learn from and build off of."
Two years later, Edmunds remembers that sequence enforcing a "next play" mentality for him in his second season as a pro, even a "next game" mentality, considering the Steelers dropped to 0-2 with that defeat. Brighter days were right around the corner for the Steelers secondary, considering they traded for Minkah Fitzpatrick before the following game, and they've been an elite defense ever since.
For Edmunds, his individual improvement took a bit longer. But don't look now, because he's gone from liability to rock-solid at strong safety. You don't hear his name much anymore as getting beat deep or missing a tackle, do you? Beyond that anecdotal evidence, Edmunds' advanced stats tell the tale of a former first-round pick who's making major strides months after the Steelers declined his fifth-year option.
"I feel I've played pretty good. Still a lot to learn from, a lot to develop, a lot to grow from. But at the end of the day, I just think everyone's out here with the same goal," Edmunds said. "Like Ben [Roethlisberger] always says, we don't have to play great individually, but if we play good collectively, we'll go out there and win a lot of football games."
In what's now a contract year for him, Edmunds has allowed just 8 completions on 16 targets for 78 yards. That 9.8 yards per completion and 4.9 per target would be career lows by far for a guy who allowed 14.1 yards per catch and 8.9 per attempt during his first three seasons, per pro-football-reference.com.
When targeting Edmunds, opposing quarterbacks have just a 58.9 passer rating. That number was 70.8 a year ago, and a whopping 131.6 in 2019, a sophomore season that got off on the wrong foot with that Seahawks game and the blowout loss to the Patriots the week before.
"It's tough playing safety altogether. You're the last line of defense. But the thing I love about Terrell is you don't have to call his name to know he's doing well. The stats might not be gaudy or anything, but he's in the right position," said Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward. "He's able to be a box defender, he's able to come down and smack some running backs, but he's just grown in that role."
Edmunds does have one interception this year, on a ball that was deflected up into the air by Fitzpatrick, but defensive coordinator Keith Butler agreed with Heyward that Edmunds is doing everything right outside of the box score to help his teammates.
"The way he talks, the way he instructs and stuff like that, echoes calls and makes sure everybody's on the same page, that's the reason," Butler said.
When the Seahawks come to Heinz Field again Sunday for their second visit in three years, a new wrinkle provided by the league's adoption of a 17-game schedule, the quarterback who picked on Edmunds twice before won't be there. But Russell Wilson's two favorite targets, Metcalf and Lockett, will be the same problem they were last time around.
Edmunds is ready to compete again. And that's the theme of this season for him. He's also competing for his NFL career before hitting free agency for the first time, and so far, he's making a good case that the Steelers should've bet on him.
"We have a great one-two punch back there," Heyward said of his safety tandem. "Not a lot of teams can say that. I know Minkah gets all the love, and he should, but Terrell has been playing really good football for us."
