ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — When you're the 16th overall pick, expectations are high from the very beginning.

No one has had higher ones for Tremaine Edmunds than Tremaine Edmunds himself.

"I expect nothing but excellence," Edmunds said. "I expect nothing but the best out of myself. I'm kind of hard on myself, but that's just because I understand what I can accomplish and what I could do."

"I think there's always another level somebody can reach."

Edmunds has started at middle linebacker for the Bills in all 74 regular season and seven playoff games he's played since being a first-round pick in 2018.

Over that time he's led the team in tackles each season and made two Pro Bowls.

Yet true to form, Edmunds sees this just as the beginning.

"Man I'm just scratching the surface," Edmunds said. "I know I'm saying that in year five, but it's true. I'm still young. I'm just scratching the surface. There's still a lot of things that I know I can do a lot better even though I'm doing some good things. There's still some things that I know I could do better. So honestly I'm just scratching the surface and I know that and I'm going to continue to work towards being the best player that I can be. I know the sky's the limit for myself."

Even as Edmunds has earned accolades early in his career, there seems to have been more focus from the outside on what he wasn't doing than what he was.

After two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and two sacks his rookie year, Edmunds produced just two INTs and 3.5 sacks total over his next three.

The lack of "splash plays" became the hottest topic.

Edmunds says he doesn't seek out the critics, but sometimes in this day and age it's impossible to completely block them out.

Still he forges ahead with blinders on.

"Each time I step on the field I have the confidence that I'm going to make a play," Edmunds said. "Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it don't. That's the game of football. That's what makes this game interesting. It's all about lining up again, toeing that line, and going back to work. I never get down on myself as far as lacking confidence. I always have that confidence that I'm going to make that play and when it presents itself that I'm going to make it."

The Bills have had that faith in him from the beginning.

"I think now people are beginning to see some of the same things that we've been seeing all along," Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said.

Edmunds has passed the eye test this season even if all the stats haven't moved a whole lot from previous seasons.

Then there's the hearing test that Frazier believes has been the biggest change in his defensive captain.

"We needed Tremaine to take another step from a leadership standpoint when it comes to being more vocal and he's done that," Frazier said. "The playmaking we knew would come as he got more experienced and continued to mature within the system and we're seeing that. But his leadership, I think when you see the resiliency of our guys, a lot of it kind of mirrors Tremaine's personality and not the highs and lows that some guys get caught up in. He's a pretty even keel guy and that kind of permeates our defense."

Edmunds, though, feels that's kind of been there all along.

"If I had to be honest with you, a lot of the stuff that I'm doing now in terms of leadership, I was doing that in the previous years," Edmunds said. "Some stuff may be behind the scenes, but I've never been the type to do stuff for a pat on my back because that's the type of person that I am. I want myself to be genuine. I know when I talk to a person I want them to say Tremaine meant that. He's a genuine person. He's not just doing that because someone was right there. I get it. Sometimes you got to get on somebody right then and there. And when you've been a professional for some time, those are qualities that grow on you. Qualities that you get better with. At the end of the day I want it to be genuine. I want people to understand that if I'm saying something to you, this is because first of all I respect you as a person and second of all we're trying to get better. We got to get this corrected."

All this growth by Edmunds comes during a contract year.

While the Bills picked up his fifth-year option, he's set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason unless a new deal is reached.

An uncertainty that Edmunds has managed throughout the season.

"We all hear the phrase that you got to control what you can control and that's something that I can't control right now," Edmunds said. "All that I can control is what I do on that football field. Right now is a perfect time for me to put all my emphasis towards winning a football game. It's the playoffs. It's a one-week season. So it's not really looking past it because I understand what's at hand. I'm not even thinking about it. I'm not going to sit here and lie and say I never thought about it, but I think I've done a good job at understanding what has to get done. The task at hand and that's winning a championship."

But Edmunds wants to be clear about what his preferred outcome is.

"I love it here," Edmunds said. "I want to be here. Bills Mafia has been so good to me and I don't want that to go unsaid because it's been a family. This is my fifth year here and I'm at home. You feel that when you come here. Just the fans, the players, the coaches, the staff here from the cafeteria to everybody. It's a family and I would say that that's a feeling that if you're not here to witness it, you just really don't know. But I've been here for five years now and that's what it feels like. We're just one big family. Obviously we'll handle that stuff once the football stuff gets done, but I definitely want to be here for sure."