Former Illinois football lineman makes the best play in the NFL

There are numerous former Illinois football players scattered throughout the NFL, and they are suiting up in the preseason right now.

It seems like in every preseason game, you will find an Illini on either side of the ball. Tommy DeVito is over there throwing the ball around for the New York Giants. Devon Witherspoon is shutting down wide receivers for the Seattle Seahawks. Pat Bryant is catching passes with the Denver Broncos.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. There are a lot of Illinois players in the NFL. On Saturday night, one of those players did something pretty special.

The NFL has a lot of incredible plays made each game. You have the one-handed catch, a quarterback avoiding three sacks to throw a ball to a wide receiver for a completion 40 yards downfield, and reading the eyes of a wide receiver to put your hands up just in time to tip a ball away.

All of those, and more, are incredible plays. But none of them compare to the best play in the NFL.

The big man interception.

On Saturday night, former Illini defensive lineman TeRah Edwards had the most coveted play in the NFL.

Up 22-17 with 6:44 to go in the game, the Los Angeles Rams were driving. At the Los Angeles Chargers' 25-yard line, the snap goes back to the Rams’ quarterback Stetson Bennett.

Instead of Edwards doing his normal rushing the quarterback as a member of the middle of the defensive line, the Chargers call what I believe is a zone blitz in their nickel defense. The left outside linebacker fakes the blitz and drops back. Edwards, as a defensive tackle, starts to rush and engages with the center. This forces the right guard and right tackle to engage with the other two defensive linemen, leaving a wide-open blitzing linebacker coming through the No. 4 gap.

Essentially, the Chargers pretended like they were bringing the house, dropped all but one player back from the left side, and they overloaded the right side, which freed up a linebacker.

The result? Well, a thing of beauty. Edwards dropped back, and Bennett didn’t see him. Bennett tried to throw the under to his slot receiver because the blitz was coming. Edwards popped up and picked the ball off.

What ensued was Edwards going full Derrick Henry and bowling players over. Who wants to get in front of that freight train? No one. Edwards ended up running the interception back 30 yards to give the Chargers better field position and the ball back in the waning moments of the game.

TeRah Edwards needs to make big plays to keep his job with the Los Angeles Chargers

When you go undrafted as a player, you are always one of the first on the chopping block. Edwards didn’t get selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, but he is making the best of things with the Chargers.

Edwards did sign a contract worth $2,975,000 for three years with Los Angeles, but that doesn’t matter much when it comes to final cuts in the preseason. Here is the thing that does matter.

Impact.

Can you make a positive impact on the team when called upon? Edwards is currently projected as a third-string defensive lineman, and with massive plays like he had on Saturday night, the comfort of a job in the NFL is surely waiting for this former Illini player.