Terrell Edmunds, Steelers rekindle reciprocal 'love' in safety's reunion with team

It’d been 18 months or so since Terrell Edmunds had been in UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

The more things stay the sane, the more they change?

“Everybody thinks I’m going to be joking and laughing,” Edmunds said of his return to the Pittsburgh Steelers, “(but) I am still trying to get adjusted.

“I got a new locker all the way over here (on the opposite side of the locker room). A new (uniform) number. So I am definitely just feeling my way through it.”

Now wearing No. 38 because his No. 34 is being donned by fellow safety Jalen Elliott, Edmunds is still the 6-foot-1, 217-pound strong safety the Steelers drafted 30th overall in 2018 and employed in that role for five seasons. But this week he is switching teams for a third time since he appeared in the Jan. 8, 2023, regular-season finale for the Steelers.

After splitting last season between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans, Edmunds signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars this spring but did not make the season-opening 53-man active roster. Edmunds, though, was a practice-squad elevation for the Jaguars’ opener Sunday — after which, the Steelers signed him off their practice squad and to their active roster.

“Last year was a long year,” Edmunds said before Wednesday’s practice. “Just going onto another team, then getting traded — I had been here for five years — and then going to Jacksonville and getting cut, it was a long year.

“But at the same time I just had that same mentality, and I think I have definitely been fighting and giving it everything that I’ve got every day and making good plays. So, constantly just doing that.”

Edmunds appeared in 81 games and started 77 for the Steelers (including playoffs) over five seasons, reliably serving as their strong safety for all but three games in that time period. He also served that role for Jacksonville on Sunday — albeit only for six snaps.

With the Steelers, he joins a deep safeties corps that includes a perennial All-Pro (and former Edmunds running mate) Minkah Fitzpatrick and a pair of veteran co-starters in DeShon Elliott and Damontae Kazee, in addition to special-teams captain Miles Killebrew.

Edmunds said he hasn’t been told what his role on defense might be here, but he is prepared for anything at safety or on special teams.

Edmunds said he and the Steelers “stayed in constant communication” since his departure.

“It’s always been love,” he said. “They are the ones who made my dream come true (to play in the NFL), and at the end of the day I am definitely thankful for that and I am going to come out here and give it everything I can. They gave me another opportunity to come onto a ‘53’ — so let’s do it.”