3. Comfortable as a leader

Edmunds was not a leader on the defensive side of the ball as a rookie. Veterans Lorenzo Alexander, the now retired Kyle Williams and Micah Hyde handled the leadership roles. But as the 2018 wound down, Williams made a point to nudge Edmunds forward into a leadership role, knowing the young linebacker would need to get comfortable in such a role for the 2019 campaign.

That exposure to leading in the defensive meeting room as well as on the field has Edmunds all the more prepared to be a player his teammates can take their cues from on Sundays.

"I've watched him take leadership steps this off season since he's been back and some of that means Lorenzo [Alexander] has to give up some of that in the linebacker room," McDermott said. "That's a very unselfish approach by probably our biggest leader on our football team is to pass that torch in some ways to Tremaine. That's a sign of a good football team."

"His ability now to communicate with no hesitation, to know exactly what we're looking for as a coaching staff, you see the evidence in the way he's practicing and the way he's communicating with his teammates, which gives those guys confidence in our middle linebacker," said Frazier. "He's grown over the offseason. The confidence is probably the one thing that's sticking out more and more."