"Gotta get the ball."
Terrell Edmunds already comes with an excellent firsthand perspective on how far he's expected to elevate his football performance this fall. Dude's kind of constructed that way. From the brash, booming voice out on the field to the trademark cutoff golden jersey he sports at most practices -- all the better to flash those abs -- his confidence pretty much spills out.
Which is awesome. As it should be. The Steelers sure didn't invest a first-round pick, then have him starting nearly every snap at strong safety as rookie, in hopes he'd end up being shy.
And yet, something's missing. He knows it, too. In fact, on this Sunday night following the team's annual Family Fest practice at Heinz Field, I'd barely begun my question on that count when he interjected with those four words atop this column.
"Have to. All of us. Gotta get the ball," Edmunds would continue, now with the volume up. "It's there for all of us as a defense. We know what we were. We know what we can be. The same goes for me personally. I've gotta get the ball. I've gotta get my hand on the ball."
The right eyebrow raised slightly.
"And I will. It's happening."
Oh, it's happening, all right, at least in the innocuous setting of training camp drills.
See that Matt Sunday photo atop this file?
It's from the seven shots drill early in this practice session. Josh Dobbs took a shotgun snap near the goal line, waited for Vance McDonald to burst forward, then hard right ... only to have his bullet swatted away by a soaring Edmunds. Who'd also, by the way, broken with the big bull every stride of the way, including physically.
Judging from the vocal reactions of the nearly 10,000 on hand, it might have been the highlight of the evening. But if it was that for Edmunds, he wasn't about to flash that much.
"Man, Vance is a big-time guy, and we're lucky we get to compete every day," Edmunds told me. "I made a play there, but I don't want to say too much about it. We're a team, and we ride together."
Fair enough. I'll do it for him.
What's pictured below is from the same seven shots drill. Edmunds tailed JuJu Smith-Schuster and smacked the ball from behind.
MATT SUNDAY / DKPSBelow is another: Devin Bush wraps up James Conner low, and Edmunds arrives high and with a purpose, given where Conner's protecting the ball:
MATT SUNDAY / DKPSNot exactly feasting off the no-names, is he?
Again, it's camp. I get it. If this continues into the preseason opener here Friday night against the Buccaneers, that'll be a bit more. If it morphs into something more in Foxborough, that'll be when it's real.
For right now, this is the data at hand and, from what I gather, Edmunds' fuel for all this: In 2018, while impressively participating in 967 defensive snaps -- his 1,190 total snaps, including special teams, led all NFL rookies -- he executed one interception, one fumble recovery and four passes defended.
Six times, he made physical contact with the football.
Six.
This is why a 22-year-old, who arrived from Virginia Tech already wise beyond his years, started hanging around late after practices at Saint Vincent College to catch passes from the JUGS machine. You know, the way wide receivers do. And in the process, he turned on a few other defensive backs to do likewise. Now they're all doing it daily.
So yeah, the intangibles are there, too.
Remember the 48-hour furor kicked up when he appeared to endorse Antonio Brown calling Ben Roethlisberger a 'two face' on Twitter?
Well, I didn't like it, either, even if it was just a teammate liking a former teammate's tweet. And I wrote as much. And when I did, Cam Heyward, the Steelers' defensive captain, contacted me directly to tell me I was reading Edmunds all wrong. He didn't delve into any specifics, but Heyward assured me Edmunds was someone who'd earned his trust.
Since Heyward had long ago earned my trust, I backed off immediately and pledged to spend even more time getting to know the kid once camp hit. And I have. And I've found him to be mature, confident without being cocky and, above all, team-first at every turn.
Notice up there how he wouldn't even describe the McDonald sequence for me out of concern for disrespecting a teammate?
That's who he legitimately seems to be. And to be certain, he's earning that respect all around.
"He's got great athletic ability," Mike Hilton told me after this practice. "That's what you see first. He can do it all. He can play in the box. He can play in the post. He's a physical guy. Makes plays on the ball. He's a great all-around safety."
And what's seen second?
"The kind of person he is. The way he takes charge. He's looking out for all of us DBs out there."
Leadership is seldom sought from someone so young, but then, that's part of what makes these 2019 Steelers potentially fascinating, particularly on defense. Because the primary signal-caller will be Bush, a relative child making his NFL debut, and the safety doing the same behind him will be Edmunds.
It can't be coincidence that those two, then, have clicked as they have. Both are first-round picks, both with all the inherent pressure, both with hugely prominent roles. And, unlike Edmunds, who seemed to have been given a grace period by all involved -- and the fan base, too -- Bush might not have any such thing. The Steelers traded up for Bush. They wanted him badly. They've needed him badly, in a way, since Ryan Shazier went down. The anticipation will begin roughly at kickoff, oh, Friday night?
I asked Bush about Edmunds and their budding relationship:
I asked Edmunds about the same.
"I'm just telling him it's a long season and he's got to keep on fighting," he said of Bush. "He's going out and doing well right now, but he's going to have his ups and downs. Just keep on fighting."
And does Edmunds consider his rookie season, any aspect of it, to be a down?
"No, not at all. I was out there, doing my best, learning. But I'm here to be better. I'm pushing myself to be better."
He isn't alone. As I suggested above, Edmunds is facing A-list challenges all through camp, not least of which is occasionally being assigned to cover Smith-Schuster. In isolation. Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler obviously aren't about to share their plans and formations -- history shows Bill Belichick doesn't need help in spying -- but what's clear in that context is that he's being set up to do damned near everything.
He acknowledged that much when I asked, specifically, about riding with tight ends like McDonald.
"I'm expecting to ride with tight ends, slots, outside receivers, running backs ... wherever they put me, I'm just gonna go. That's how it's gonna be. I'm good with it."
At that point in our talk, I motioned over to Rod Woodson. He was one of many former Steelers in attendance at this fun event, and easily the most accomplished. Pittsburghers recall Woodson as a generational corner, but he'd close out his Hall of Fame career elsewhere as a superb safety.
The things the coaches are currently trying with Edmunds, I said to him, were the things they ask the truly special talents to do. And I wanted to know, just within that, where he sees himself in a year or two, or even five.
"Honestly, there's no limit," he answered without hesitation. "I've got no limits. All my life, I've always felt like I can do whatever I put my mind to. My mindset is always to be great. My feeling is always, going into every game, every situation, that I'm going to be great. I'm going to make a play. I'm going to go out there and play my best football and do everything I can to help my team win. Whatever comes with that ... I'm fine with it. If that's being great, I'm fine with it."
With that, two young fans interjected. They'd had enough of waiting and wanted their photos taken, asking me if I'd do the snapping. Edmunds smiled, obliged, then, spotting another even younger fan nearby who appeared too timid to intrude, waved that lad into the frame, as well.
He did so with his left hand. In his right hand was a football.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers training camp, Heinz Field, Aug. 4, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
