One-year contracts following a rookie deal signed with a player’s original team often aren’t a good sign, and frequently indicate an impending parting of the ways. Whether that’s on a traditional one-year deal or a franchise or transition tag, we see it played out frequently, even in Pittsburgh, as with JuJu Smith-Schuster and Bud Dupree in recent years.
Safety Terrell Edmunds is yet another example. A first-round pick in 2018, he explored the open market in 2022 after the Steelers passed on his fifth-year option, ultimately accepting a one-year, four-year-veteran qualifying contract that paid him just north of $2.