Bills LB Tremaine Edmunds Stands out as `Unicorn' to Jets Coach Robert Saleh

The coach compares him to Hall-of-Famer Brian Urlacher.

Once upon a time, middle linebackers in the NFL were all around 250 pounds and built to stop the run more than the pass. They were downhill players and big hitters and often played on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

Thanks to rules changes that have promoted the evolution of the passing game, those days likely are gone forever. Non pass-rushing linebackers today aren't nearly as big anymore. They're lighter and quicker and built to function better in pass coverage than to flatten ballcarriers at the point of attack.

Except for the Buffalo Bills' Tremaine Edmunds, that is.

Edmunds is a 6-foot-5, 250-pound beast, according to New York Jets coach Robert Saleh, who this week compared him to Hall-of-Famer Brian Urlacher.

Saleh's Jets on Sunday visit Buffalo in the final week of the regular season.

#Jets HC Robert Saleh talked up #Bills LB Tremaine Edmunds (@maine_savage23), ‘he’s like a unicorn in the linebacker world’ + has ‘ridiculous speed, length, & range.’ He said the space he takes away is the best he has seen since @BUrlacher54: #NYJvsBUF #BillsMafia #TakeFlight pic.twitter.com/cVwF8jya2q

— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) January 7, 2022

"He's like a unicorn in the linebacker world," Saleh raved. "I mean, the guy is 6-foot-5, he's got ridiculous length, speed, range, knock-back. He's got all of it. There isnt anything he doesn't have.

"So he is special in every sense of the imagination. The amount of space he takes away just by his mere presence in the middle of the field is unlike anything that's been seen in a very long time. Think Urlacher would probably be one of those guys."

This is coming from someone who made his bones in the NFL coaching linebackers for the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars before becoming defensive coordinator in San Francisco and finally taking over the Jets this season.

Taken with the 16th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Edmunds has been a consistent producer for the Bills since Day 1. In 60 career regular-season games, all starts, he has contributed 458 tackles, 5.5 sacks, four interceptions and 27 pass breakups.

Though not a favorite of Pro Football Focus, which grades players and teams with heavy use of analytics, Edmunds, who owns a season grade of 46.9, was ranked as the 24th best linebacker in the league entering this season.

Yet there is little doubt that every opponent game-plans for Edmunds, who earned Pro-Bowl berths in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

The Bills already have picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract, but have been unable or unwilling to sign him to an extension, which he has been eligible for since the end of last season.

Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier is confident the uncertainty over Edmunds' future with the Bills will ever creep into his play, which Frazier has been more than satisfied with overall and this season.

"He makes it really hard for the quarterback as they're trying to make throws over middle of our defense," Frazier said. "It's difficult as those guys try to judge his range, in particular when he gets his hands up. He's had a number of batted balls over the course of his short career in the NFL, and a lot of it has to do with quarterbacks just not sure what he can do when he raises his hands and he ends up [with a wingspan] os about 6-foot-7 when he gets his hands up.

"So he causes problems for quarterbacks but also for the running backs because of the way he can close on running backs. He's tracking them down in the alley. ... His length is a plus in a lot of ways."

Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.