At no point has Buffalo Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds been an elite linebacker in the NFL just yet. He progressed nicely over the course of the first two seasons of his career. Upon doing so, expectations in 2020 were of the same nature for him.
Instead, the opposite has happened. While the Bills as an entire defensive unit has struggled this season, so has their middle linebacker. The whole blame certainly isn’t on Edmunds, but it still begs the question… what’s up with him?
For the still youthful 22-year-old, Edmunds acknowledged two things in regard to his game this week. First… yeah, he thinks he needs to be better. But more interestingly, Edmunds acknowledged some speculation about him. There is a nagging shoulder injury that’s still bothering him.
“Definitely getting better, I’m just taking it day-by-day,” Edmunds said via video conference. “It’s just something that I’m going to have to play around. Regardless of what it is when I’m out there, I hold myself to the same standard as if nothing is wrong with my shoulder at all. There’s no excuse.”
That’s about as close as you’ll get from most athletes in regard to admitting that something just isn’t right. A shoulder knock certainly isn’t helping Edmunds’ ability to shed blockers or just move in general, it’s also something that could mentally bother a player and cause them to second-guess things.
That’s actually another thing that seems different about Edmunds in 2020. Sometimes a guy that previously would over-pursue, he now seems tentative. This struggle wasn’t mentioned by Edmunds this week, rather, his head coach in Sean McDermott called it how he’s seeing it.
“Yes,” McDermott said when asked if Edmunds needs to be better. “I think it just starts with understanding… and then clarity for him to be decisive more than anything.”
“Tremaine’s aware of it and he’s working extremely hard right now to improve his game, yes,” the coach added. “Some times things like this happen.”
As the quarterback of Buffalo’s defense, the Bills clearly will need Edmunds to get right mentally and physically sooner rather than later. In terms of the latter, Edmunds mentioned he did not think he would be dealing with his shoulder aliment for the entire season.
“I hope it’s not something I’m fighting with the entire year,” Edmunds said. “I’m not expecting to deal with it the entire year.”
Again, every problem with the Bills defense is not Edmunds’ fault. Many have nothing to do with him at all. Edmunds’ partner in Matt Milano (pectoral) has been in and out of the lineup, the defensive line isn’t playing well while the secondary has a slew of cornerback injuries as well.
But in regard to Edmunds, time of the year he could be most looking forward to is a month from now. The Bills play the Jets, Patriots, Seahawks and Cardinals until their bye week comes about. Hopefully he won’t be worrying about his shoulder until then, though.
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