Over the course of the past year, Chase Edmonds went from signing what he thought was a you've-made-it contract to joining his third NFL team in less than six months.
But now Edmonds sees a real opportunity with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom he signed with last month, and it's a chance he feels he never got with either of the teams he suited up for in 2022.
"It's on the film from my first four years doing it," Edmonds said, via the Tampa Bay Times. "I know I can be an elite third running back in this league, and I'm going be one of those guys where I'm a big-time mismatch with linebackers coming out of the backfield, and I'm eager to prove them wrong."
Edmonds was an ascending player but one who had to earn every snap with the Arizona Cardinals the first four years of his NFL career. His chip had been big, but Edwards admitted that the two-year, $12 million deal he signed with the Miami Dolphins took a little chunk out of him.
"You're like, 'OK, things are finally turning around for yourself. Things are finally up and up,'" Edmonds said. "And you know, last season was, just straight up, my worst season ever in all my years of football. Performance-wise, it was just not up to my standard at all. It's very humbling.
"I was really one of the guys in the locker room and the human natural reaction is, like, content, you know what I mean? Like you just don't have that same (drive)."
Edmonds struggled during his brief stay in Miami, rushing for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries and catching 10 passes for 96 yards and one more TD in eight games (two starts). He was then included as a throw-in for the Bradley Chubb deal which sent him to the Denver Broncos, for whom he totaled 186 scrimmage yards in five games. Edmonds was saddled with a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for four total games.
The Bucs signed Edmonds to a one-year contract worth the veteran minimum of $1.08 million. The chip, it seems, could be back.
"I'm eager to get back out there, you know, add that chip back on my shoulder," he said.
Following the retirement of Tom Brady and the release of Leonard Fournette and others, Tampa Bay is in reboot mode. Edmonds hopes to be an integral part of the new-look Bucs offense.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to go to Tampa, and I'm grateful that I get to play with someone like (quarterback) Baker Mayfield," Edmonds said. "Someone else whose chip is huge. Just to feed off the energy and do things that people expect you to do, individually and collectively as a team."
