Competitive family: Steelers' No. 1 pick Terrell Edmunds, a safety from Virginia Tech taken with the 28th pick overall, comes from some strong blood lines, his father Farrell Edmunds a former third-round pick of the Miami Dolphins who spent seven seasons in the NFL. But it doesn't stop there. His brother Trey Edmunds is with the New Orleans Saints, while his other brother, Tremaine Edmunds, was drafted by the Buffalo Bills this year.
There is no doubt it made for some competitive backyard football for the Edmunds family.
"Very competitive," said Edmunds. "We stayed in a cul-de-sac with my cousins. We were all out there playing pickup. We called it pick up and dive. You pick up the ball and run. It was a never ending game. People were losing teeth, getting cuts. But we kept playing. We were competitive all of the time. You are getting tackled by everybody. It's you against everybody when you have the ball."
Safety valve: General Manager Kevin Colbert was impressed not just with the bloodlines he comes from, but the type of family he comes from. But he is also impressed with what he can bring to the Steelers defense.
"He is a very gifted, athletic physical safety that has played free safety, he has played strong safety, rotating from one to the other on the same play," said Colbert. "He not only has the physical ability to do that, but what has impressed us is his mental ability to be able to move and make the adjustments and be the quarterback on the back end of a really good defense."
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Versatility matters:** Coach Mike Tomlin spoke about 'specialization of ball' and versatility during the team's pre-draft press conference on Monday, and Edmunds is someone who definitely brings versatility to the table.
"He was a fun evaluation for me personally," said Tomlin. "Anything that you can imagine him doing, you saw him do on Virginia Tech's defensive tape. You saw him play free, you saw him play strong, you saw him play deep middle, you saw him play half field, you saw him play sub-package linebacker. That versatility was exciting. We were just talking the other day about the specialization of ball, and things you are able to do in sub-packages, you are not speculating in that evaluation. You saw him do a number of the things that will be on the menu for him. We got a sharp, young, versatile guy that is a very good communicator that plays with physicality. Quite simply he checked all of the boxes for us."
