When the news broke that the Steelers were declining to pick up the fifth-year option on Terrell Edmunds Monday, the immediate reaction from some was that it was because the team is unhappy with safety.
Truth is, the Steelers are not unhappy with Edmunds. They just don't want to pay him the $6.75 million he would have been guaranteed in 2022 -- and by extension, his 2021 salary would have been guaranteed, as well.
Why? Well, there are a number of reasons. First and foremost is that the Steelers already picked up their option on free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick at $10.6 million. If they picked up the options on both, they would have had $17 million tied up in their two starting safeties -- fully guaranteed.
The bigger issue is they are going to be working on a new deal for T.J. Watt sooner rather than later. The same will go for Fitzpatrick next offseason. And that fifth-year option money is a jumping off point.
So, for Fitzpatrick's agent, that means he'll want to start at $10.6 million per year and work up from there. Had the Steelers picked up the option on Edmunds, it would be the same for him.
Now, $6.75 million isn't nearly as much, but he's not quite been the kind of player the team would sign to a four-year, $27-million contract, for example. That's what an average of $6.75 million works out to.
That said, he's an ascending player who just turned 24 in January. The Steelers wouldn't mind signing him to an extension of some type.
He had over 100 tackles in 2019. Last season, he showed improved coverage skills, intercepting two passes and breaking up eight total after having seven pass breakups in his first two seasons combined. Opposing quarterbacks completed just 55 percent of their passes in his coverage in 2020 and he allowed a passer rating of 70.8 according to Pro Football Reference.
He's a player that has gotten better each year.
There's also this when it comes to the fifth-year option, the new CBA changed the option rules. Whereas first-round picks outside the top-10 used to still be bargains, now it doesn't matter where you were drafted in the first round. The rules are the same regardless.
So we saw all but one of the top 18 players from the 2018 draft have their option picked up or receive a contract extension. From the 19th pick -- the Cowboys' Leighton Vander Esch -- on down, only five picks got that fifth year. A lot of teams didn't feel those players taken in the bottom half of the round were worth the money.
That also includes the Titans' Rashaan Evans, who along with Vander Esch was a player Steelers fans wanted the team to trade up to get in that draft.
That doesn't mean that Vander Esch, Evans or Edmunds aren't good players. All are starters on their respective teams. Their teams just didn't want to pay them that kind of money.
It also wouldn't be surprising to see at least two of those players -- Evans and Edmunds -- get new contracts with the Titans and Steelers.
And Edmunds is certainly deserving of a long-term deal, just not at an average of $6.75 million per year. Three years at $15 million total would make a lot more sense.
YOUR TURN: Would you give Edmunds an extension?