LATROBE, Pa. -- The Steelers didn't plan on taking a safety in the first round of the draft. That's just how things worked out, according to Kevin Colbert.
But now that the Steelers have Terrell Edmunds in training camp, they're eager to see what the 21-year-old can do in their defense. So eager, in fact, they gave veteran safety Morgan Burnett the day off Thursday, just two days into camp, because of "hamstring tightness," to get a look at Edmunds paired with Sean Davis.
It could be a look at what the future holds for the Steelers, who have totally reworked their safety position. Gone are Mike Mitchell, Robert Golden and J.J. Wilcox, who formed 3/4 of the team's safety depth chart a year ago with Davis. In are Burnett, Edmunds and fellow rookie Marcus Allen, a fifth-round draft pick.
Heck, even though Davis, a 2016 second-round draft pick, is back for his third season with the Steelers, he's swapped positions, moving from the strong safety spot he's manned the past two seasons to free, where he'll replace Mitchell.
"That's how we want it now, so that's how it's going to be," Davis told me Friday of his move.
The plan initially is to have Davis next to the 29-year-old Burnett, who signed a three-year, $14.35-million contract with the Steelers in the offseason after spending his first eight seasons in Green Bay. But the draft brought the Steelers both Edmunds and Allen, allowing the team to also keep an eye on the future.
Colbert said Friday that's just how things worked out.
"We knew Mitchell wasn’t going to be here, obviously, when we terminated him," Colbert said. "We were looking in free agency and we signed what we felt was a solid veteran player that we could fit under the salary cap in our current situation, in Morgan Burnett. We didn’t go into the draft saying we were going to draft another safety and we didn’t, well, two, but we went into the draft saying, OK, if the safety is the best available player at our pick, sure we can add another guy, and that’s what we did.
"We never go ... we really, honestly, you guys don’t believe me, but you have an idea about where you want to pick, but, I saw him. You have an idea about what you want to pick, but you never lock yourselves in."
The Steelers might not have been thinking that way, but now that it's come to fruition, even if just for one day, they'll make the most of it.
"It was nice," said Edmunds of working with the first-team defense. "It was good to go in there with all of the veteran guys and veterans on offense, too."
Edmunds did that sporadically throughout the offseason but never on a full-time basis, though he did say one time during the offseason Ben Roethlisberger noticed him out there and winked at him before going after him.
But it wasn't specifically because he was a rookie.
"Yeah, he noticed me. He told me at one point I was giving away my disguise too early," Edmunds said. "So I've been working on my disguise even more. He came to me today and said I was doing well with my disguise today. He said I got better at that.
"Having a quarterback like Ben, a guy who's experienced, who's made plays, he can tell me things from a safety perspective that will help me go out there and make plays."
Though it wasn't all rosy. He was beaten for a touchdown during the seven shots drill to open practice by tight end Vance McDonald, who simply boxed him out to make a catch. Earlier, Justin Hunter had caught a touchdown in Edmunds' zone out of a bunch formation.
That's the key, making plays. The Steelers have gotten precious few out of their secondary in recent years. They haven't had a true playmaker at safety since Troy Polamalu was in his prime, though Davis did have three interceptions last season.
Davis will get the opportunity for more interceptions at the free safety position, something to which he looks forward, even though he hasn't played free safety since high school.
"I have a good background of baseball playing centerfield, seeing the ball and judging things. I'm going to use that to my advantage to track the ball down. To not get tricked by savvy quarterbacks," Davis said.
"I am more comfortable in the box. I'm just going just try to work on my techniques to try to get better. It is a transition, but I can do it."
The Steelers hope that is the case. They want the sure-tackling Burnett -- who was credited with just two missed tackles last season -- in the box where he can be disruptive. They had too many missed tackles last season, which has been another point of emphasis for the team throughout the offseason.
"We were bad with missed tackles last year, I think we were 31st in the league, so that's definitely a point of emphasis," said Davis, who led the Steelers with 92 tackles but also was credited with an astounding 24 missed tackles, one-and-a-half per game. "We put the pads on (Saturday), so we're all eager to put that on display. For us to be world champions, that's a point of emphasis that needs to be corrected, so we're all looking forward to it."
The Steelers will start tackling live at practice at Saturday's practice, the first day they've been permitted to do so under NFL rules. That means it's a big day for everyone.
For Davis, being at the free safety spot, if that is where he settles in now in his second season as a full-time starter, means he'll be the last line of defense. He knows that means he can't miss tackles at that spot.
"Everyone's depending on me now for sure now that I am the last line of defense," he said. "I do like that pressure. They trust me to be that guy for the defense. It's something I've never done before, so I'm just taking the time here to develop those skills."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers training camp, Latrobe, Pa., July 27, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS