Mike Edwards gives Chiefs secondary a ball-hawking clutch safety

When the Kansas City Chiefs signed Mike Edwards last month to join the secondary, they added a promising young playmaker who brings a lot to the table.

One of the bigger factors for the overall success in the Kansas City Chiefs secondary last season was their ability to shore up the biggest weakness from the year before. By moving on from Daniel Sorensen and adding Justin Reid and Bryan Cook to partner with Juan Thornhill in three-safety looks, the Chiefs were able to alleviate mismatches that had killed them a year prior.

Now that Thornhill has taken a free agent path out of town, having signed a three-year deal with the Cleveland Browns, the Chiefs face another potential void there after looking so strong down the stretch a year ago.

As last year’s second-round pick, Cook is an obvious choice to take over for Thornhill, but that remains to be seen. The major competition, at this stage at least, is in newcomer Mike Edwards, a young safety who had a breakout year last season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

What does Edwards bring to the Chiefs? How will he fit in? We spoke with Josh Hill, who covers the Bucs at The Pewter Plank, to tell us more about what K.C. will like (and what they will not) about the team’s newest safety.

Mike Edwards had a breakout season last year. What precipitated that performance in ’22?

Two of the most common ways to refer to Mike Edwards are “ball-hawking” and “downhill tackler”. Those are also two things that Todd Bowles loves to rely on when he’s scheming his defense, which Bucs fans feel when we all live on the razor’s edge of a Zero Blitz. I’m having a ‘Nam flashback to that playoff loss to the Rams as we speak.

Antoine Winfield Jr. missed some time last year, which required Edwards to take a more prominent role in the secondary, a situation in which he was able to show off his development as a coverage safety and a solid run-stuffing tackler. There was a specific play against the Browns in which he stuffed Kareem Hunt despite being caught in the middle of a wide-open lane. Edwards was the only thing standing between Hunt and a touchdown, and the play ended with Hunt on his back rather than Edwards. Those plays live outside of the box score, but are things that Bowles installed in Edwards and helped him develop into a solid rotational depth piece with starting upside during his time with the Bucs.

Given his production, why didn’t Tampa Bay retain him this offseason?

Unfortunately, this appears to be the price of doing business with Jamel Dean. It was a huge boost to the Bucs offseason to bring Dean back because it looked almost certain that he would be leaving in free agency for top dollar. Somehow Jason Licht was able to bring him back, as well as Lavonte David, but Bucs fans are starting to see the flip side of that coin.

Edwards should have been retained at the price the Chiefs got him at, but the Bucs were simply boxed out of being able to bring him back. Few in Tampa Bay will argue against essentially trading him for Dean and David, but don’t misinterpret his low market value as Edwards not being a player who can continue to a championship defense in meaningful ways.

What would you say Edwards brings to the Chiefs?

He a tremendous ball-hawking safety who has a knack for being exactly where he needs to be and taking advantage of poor decisions by quarterbacks. Over the last three seasons, Edwards grabbed seven interceptions and is also low-key effective as a pass rusher. Those two things seem to combine to make up a safety that Steve Spagnuolo can confidently drop into coverage or use when he’s bringing the house on third-down to end a drive.

Not that the Chiefs have a lack of this, but Edwards also brings some valuable postseason experience to Kansas City— specifically as a depth player who can rotate in. He’s going to be a valuable resource for Steve Spagnuolo in terms of having a guy he can throw in at a moment’s notice and know his defense isn’t going to miss a beat. He’s not a perfect safety and will make some boneheaded mistakes from time to time, but he also ended Drew Brees career with an interception, helped defend an Aaron Rodgers pass that ended the Packers’ infamous final offensive drive in the NFC Championship Game and helped suffocate Kansas City’s receivers in the Super Bowl and throw off Patrick Mahomes’ them under pressure. He’s good for a blown coverage here and there, but those are examples of the type of clutch player Edwards can be if he comes in on a key third-down or with the goalline against the backs of Kansas City’s defense.

Where better to continue to develop the clutch gene than with the Chiefs?

What should the Chiefs never ask Edwards to do?

As much as he made out of his time replacing an injured Antoine Winfield Jr. last year, Edwards might struggle if he’s leaned on to consistently start. That’s a little unfair since we didn’t see him get that opportunity a lot in Tampa Bay, and while he made the most of it, he thrived as a rotational piece. He very well could develop as a starter, and it seems like his plan is to use a stint with the Chiefs to bolster his resume and get paid as a starting safety next offseason, but don’t expect him to come in and be Tyrann Mathieu. He’s best used in sub-packages or in late-down situations and should be eased into starting rather than relied upon to fill that gap straight out of the gate.