Some view last year as a down season for Chicago Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, but people within the NFL are showing mixed emotions about him.
ESPN NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler continued his series on surveying league scouts, executives, and coaches to see what the top 10 players are at each position. The league ranked Edmunds as the sixth-best off-ball linebacker in the NFL, but some might not agree with him being in the top 10 altogether.
"Voters are mixed on Edmunds, whose production doesn't always match his physical tools. He's 6-foot-5, 250 pounds with long arms and can move. Scouts tend to lean his way because of his scheme-transcendent traits.
'He has the prototypical physique, athletic ability and speed that you covet in an ILB in today's game,' an NFL personnel director said. 'He can diagnose playing downhill in the box, he can play sideline to sideline and has the coverage ability to match up in zone or man coverage.'
But production has been an issue for Edmunds, who hasn't made a Pro Bowl since 2020 and whose three tackles for loss last season marked a career low, though his eight pass deflections were his most since 2019.
'Smart, but not as instinctive as you'd hope,' an NFL coordinator said. "If you put his ability with [teammate T.J. Edwards'] instincts, you'd have an All-Pro.'"
Chicago needs to see more out of Edmunds and the NFL apparently agrees
The stats will show one side of the story for Edmunds' last season. He finished with 110 tackles, eight pass deflections, three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, one sack, one interception, and one forced fumble in 17 games.
For a lot of players in the league, those would be respectable numbers, but Edmunds has high standards. Fowler brought it up, but just having three tackles for loss in 17 games is not good. That shows he is allowing runs to break off more often than he should.
This type of play is starting to show that maybe Edmunds is regressing which would be bad news for Chicago. That might put the Bears in a position where they needs to address getting younger linebackers in the offseason.
They have already taken the first steps in doing that by selecting Ruben Hyppolite II in the fourth round of this year's NFL Draft. Hyppolite is already looking like a projected starter this season and could be the future of the franchise.
Read more: PFF vindicates Ryan Poles' offseason trade for Joe Thuney with latest rankings
It's an essential season for Edmunds to get back to being the guy who made the Pro Bowl in 2020. That's who the Bears paid for and haven't gotten the return on investment they were hoping for yet.