Tremaine Edmunds earns Top 10 LB spot, according to ESPN

Unless Caleb Williams meets his goal of surpassing Tom Brady in Super Bowls, the Chicago Bears will always be known for their linebackers. Arguably the two best linebackers of all time were Bears, Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary, and Brian Urlacher helped lead Chicago to their only Super Bowl berth of the 21st century.

That makes it fitting to see a Chicago linebacker included on a Top 10 list for the 2024 season. Tremaine Edmunds landed at No. 7 on Jeremy Fowler's list of the NFL's ten best linebackers heading into 2024 as ranked by league executives, scouts, and coaches.

"At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds with elite speed, Edmunds possesses the high-end traits that scouts love. And while Buffalo knocked him for his lack of splash plays over four seasons there, he delivered four interceptions in his first year in Chicago... a knock against Edmunds: Multiple voters said fellow Chicago linebacker T.J. Edwards outplayed him in 2023."

Fowler also cited an NFL defensive coach who called Edmunds "the classic Tampa-2 Mike linebacker, the prototype for that role".

Execs, coaches, scouts rank To 10 off-ball linebackers:

*Fred Warner his own Tier 1, earning nearly 90% first-place votes
*Nick Bolton is Warner Lite
*Jeremiah Owuwu-Koramoah cracks top 6: "Runs like a corner" https://t.co/JihEq0J5UD

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) July 16, 2024

I thought Edmunds should have ended up one or two spots higher on this list, but overall, it's a fair ranking. Edmunds did struggle early in the 2023 season, but the entire Bears defense was out of sync, probably due to weird off-field issues. Once Matt Eberflus took over playcalling for that unit, and especially after GM Ryan Poles traded for defensive end Montez Sweat, the defense got much better, with Edmunds playing a key role.

It's worth noting that TJ Edwards was also on the list as an Honorable Mention.

With new defensive coordinator Eric Washington, this linebacker duo will be exciting to watch again in 2024.