The Chicago Bears signed veteran linebacker T.J. Edwards to a three-year $19.5M deal. The deal makes sense, and most across the NFL landscape see this as a bargain deal. So, what is there to know about the Bears new starting linebacker?
5. The NFL combine contributed to T.J. Edwards being undrafted
T.J. Edwards is an impressive story coming into the NFL as a UDFA. Four years later he signed a new deal with his hometown team. However, Edwards is an underdog by NFL standards, but not many are surprised by his come-up.
With the NFL combine happening just a week or so ago, this is a nice reminder that while the events matter, you also have to cross-reference what you saw on tape. Edwards was a star linebacker at Wisconsin and racked up 366 tackles over a four-year career with the Badgers. Despite being good enough for the Big 10, he went undrafted, mainly because of his athleticism.
Check out his combine looked in 2019.
T.J. Edwards went undrafted as a LB in the 2019 draft class. He scored a 2.75 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 1428 out of 1967 LB from 1987 to 2019. #Bears https://t.co/d4x7yBIwQi #RAS pic.twitter.com/UbRUpNuQBT
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 13, 2023
By NFL standards he is small, slow, and lacks the explosion needed to hang. One thing that went in his favor was the size of linebackers had shrunk. In the 90s, he really would have been too small to hang in the NFL. However, the Eagles knew the game was getting smaller, and faster, and gave Edwards a chance.
As for the faster, Edwards does not have long speed but did at least show something in agility. It shows he can change directions quickly. When you add that with the fact that he processes football quickly, you have legitimate play speed.
The agility and play speed showed at Wisconsin and slowly overcame his poor testing numbers in the NFL. It shows that while this stuff matters and no one is saying Edwards should have gone in round one, you have to combine the two, and someone should have taken a chance earlier based on what he did at Wisconsin.
4. T.J. Edwards raw statistical performance
Coming from being a UDFA, T.J. Edwards had to prove himself every step of the way. He did that early on, and played 122 snaps as a rookie. Those snaps were four starts that came sporadically due to injuries around him.
Edwards got onto the field more in his second season, but missed a few games and was not a full-time player. He went on to play 492 snaps. In 2021, he became more of a full-time starter and played 719 snaps, then he called plays and led the defense, as well as being top amongst all linebackers in snaps at 1,183.
He has 2,516 career snaps, with 44% of them being run defense, 53% in coverage, and then the final 3% as a pass rusher. As his playing time increased, so did his stats.
He went from 30 tackles to 70 and then had 130 and 159 the past two seasons. That came on 10 tackles for loss. He entered 2022 with 10 tackles for loss in three full seasons. You can see why the team had an interest.
He has worked for this, and proved himself. His best play was last season and he still getting better.
3. T.J. Edwards is an effective run defender
One thing that will be a question with T.J. Edwards is his missed tackle rate increased last season. He went from 4.7% in 2021 to 10.4% in 2022 and went from six missed tackles to 20. He had 24 run stops in 2021, and then 27 in 2022, so he was more involved.
Still, he had an 8.4% run-stop rate in 2021, and 5.9% in 2022. Needless to say with the extra snaps he took a step back and saw a few more struggles against the run.
However, in that drop, he went from the seventh-highest-graded run defender per PFF to the 14th-highest-graded run defender. He was playing so well that they gave him more work, and while he did not continue at that pace, he maintained playing at a high level.
2. T.J. Edwards was excellent in coverage
When you think of a Wisconsin linebacker, especially with the athletic profile that Edwards brings, you are expecting the run defender. However, that is not the case, and Edwards is more active in the passing game.
This season he had 27 coverage stops, which ranked him seventh. He was tied with names such as Fred Warner and Matt Milano, and that is where you want to be. Beyond that, he was second in the NFL in passes broken up. He is behind someone Chicago Bears fans should know, Tremaine Edmunds.
His forced incompletion rate sits at 5th in the NFL and is behind Edmunds, Warner, and Demario Davis. Lastly, of all linebackers at the top of these stats, he happens to have the best yards per catch allowed, at 7.5.
So, when players catch passes on him, he makes sure they do not move the sticks. He breaks up passes and even knocks away balls in the receiver's hands. There is not much to dislike about Edwards from a coverage perspective.
1. T.J. Edwards fits the Chicago Bears mold of signing
This was not the most anticipated signing, because fans were not sure how the Chicago Bears felt about Jack Sanborn and the overall linebacker depth. Still, when we were identifying players who fit the Ryan Poles mold, Edwards checks all the boxes.
Things that Poles looks for are players coming off of their rookie deals, meaning their best play may not have come yet. Edwards is 26 and hitting free agency for the first time. Poles also likes the players who have outshot their draft expectations. Think of Lucas Patrick and Byron Pringle being UDFAs last year.
Lastly, Matt Eberflus loves him some linebackers. He obviously had to love what he saw from Edwards on tape. Poles saw someone who fought to earn it, and someone about to hit their best play. This is a class Poles-Eberflus signing and should be the type of player we continue to look for as we predict who may come next.