T.J. Edwards once associated Sundays with the Chicago Bears. He lived about an hour from Soldier Field, watching games from his Lake Villa, Ill., home with family and occasionally enduring the windchill to sit in the bleachers. He’s tailgated in a Devin Hester jersey, waited an hour to meet Brian Urlacher and idolized Lance Briggs.

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There’s a mystique about playing linebacker in Chicago, where Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary once roamed. Edwards has watched two-plus decades of linebackers mere steps away from Lake Michigan, but he’s never personally played at Soldier Field — until this Sunday when the Eagles visit the Bears.

The schedule was unveiled in the spring, and Edwards learned the game would be on Dec. 18. Good thing it came during the final stretch of the season. That’s when Philadelphia tends to count on Edwards the most.

Edwards is the Eagles’ top linebacker and the “green dot” on defense — the player who wears the defensive headset. He’s also eighth in the NFL in tackles and was named an All-Pro at the third-quarter mark of the season by Pro Football Focus.

If it seems natural to use Edwards this way, it would also be natural to wonder what took so long.

Edwards finished the past two seasons as the team’s No. 1 linebacker. He didn’t start either season in that role. It’s easy to get typecast in the NFL, and it was almost as if Edwards couldn’t break the label of a replaceable linebacker good enough to be a fill-in and contribute on special teams, but not a building block for the defense.

That perception started to shift late in 2021, especially when the Eagles gave him a one-year extension to keep him under contract for the 2022 season. With little question about his role — and even less time on the sideline — Edwards is thriving. He’s the signal caller for the NFL’s second-ranked defense, playing 94 percent of the snaps through 13 games. Edwards had not played more than 61 percent of the snaps in a season during his first three years.

A high school quarterback who went undrafted out of Wisconsin in 2019 because he didn’t have the desired measurements and athletic testing for a linebacker, Edwards returns to his hometown this weekend, forcing the Eagles to reconsider the way they think about the position and the NFL to reconsider the way it thinks about him.

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“In everyone else’s head, I don’t know if it has changed,” Edwards told The Athletic last week. “In mine, my confidence in what I’m doing, my confidence is in knowing I can play this game at linebacker at a high level.”

Eagles linebackers coach Nick Rallis tried thinking about the best play Edwards has made this season, and he couldn’t settle on one. This was last month, with the Eagles coming off their bye week. Rallis considered a Week 3 game against Washington when Edwards took the perfect angle and made a stifling tackle, never requiring a beat to think. He anticipated the play. But there was a similar one against Minnesota, and then what about the one against Arizona?

“Those open-field-tackle plays really stand out,” Rallis said. “Getting them down in space is what he’s really doing well right now.”

These were all plays one would typically expect a speedy linebacker to make. When Rallis said what goes unnoticed about Edwards is how fast he is, it initially seemed like puffery considering Edwards’ 40-yard dash time at the 2019 Wisconsin pro day was one of the reasons he went undrafted. Edwards ran a 4.87-second 40, slower than the official combine time of any linebacker drafted that season.

But any discussion about Edwards requires the distinction between timed speed and playing speed.

“I think it makes all the difference,” Edwards said. “Can you think fast? Can you react quick? Can you be in position to make plays?”

The fastest 40-yard time among linebackers at last season’s combine was 4.42 seconds. The median was 4.6 seconds. What Edwards can do is identify what’s happening on a play and process what he needs to do quicker than a faster linebacker might, effectively compensating for the difference — and then some — that would be seen on a stopwatch in a controlled setting.

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“It’s a reflection of a guy’s ability to process … and he can process really well,” Rallis said of play speed. “Obviously, you have to have the speed to accelerate and run and chase the guy down. I think he’s got a combination of both. And so that’s where it’s like, ‘Oh, I see this guy playing extremely fast on tape.’”

Defensive coordinator Jonathon Gannon suggested that Edwards’ performance is emblematic of the phrase “accelerated vision.” Gannon worked with longtime NFL assistant Jerry Gray, who told him the NFL is an open-book test and benefits those who study the most.

“There’s plays out there to be had when you’re anticipating certain things, but you can only do that by your prep,” Gannon said. “That goes six days through the week, and T.J. takes that to heart, and he does that for us and helps a lot of other guys on the defense around him because of his brain and his knowledge.”

Rallis described Edwards as “very cerebral” and “extremely smart,” with a personality that’s important for the middle of the defense. In Gannon’s words, that’s being “emotionally stable” and then “violent” when the ball is snapped.

This isn’t a newfound description. The scouting report by The Athletic’s Dane Brugler read, “Edwards’ average athletic traits limit his NFL upside, but his diagnose skills and hard-nosed play style should keep him on an NFL roster.” What the 26-year-old is doing this season showed in the Big Ten and in flashes during his first three seasons with the Eagles.

“It’s kind of comical because you hear coaches say, ‘We’re not too caught up in the metrics, if you can play you can play,’” said Luke Mertens, Edwards’ coach at Lakes Community High School, discussing how Edwards went undrafted and needed to wait four years to play at this rate. “That’s clearly not true in T.J.’s case. They were caught up in the metrics, because he won’t necessarily ‘wow’ you with his 40 time, his vertical jump or his height. But the guy has proven throughout his career he makes plays. In between the white lines, he’ll be one of the best guys out there. I don’t know when we’re going to reach a point where people just accept the fact that he’s one of the best linebackers in the game today.”

The Eagles spent the early portion of the 2021 season rotating linebackers to try to find the best combination. Their top Week 1 linebacker was cut after playing seven games. It wasn’t until Week 9 when the Eagles kept Edwards on the field every snap. And it quickly became clear there was no need to rotate his spot.

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The Eagles signed Kyzir White in March. In April, they drafted Nakobe Dean in the third round — an apparent steal considering Dean was the top linebacker in college football last season. Philadelphia fans awaited Dean entering the lineup. But Edwards and White excelled together as the top pair in training camp, and that has continued throughout the season. The linebackers are a major reason why the Eagles have one of the NFL’s top defenses, and Edwards has been one of the team’s breakout players.

“I think he’s gotten better in every aspect of the game,” Rallis said. “His tackling is really good, rarely missing tackles in the open field, which is the hardest thing to do as a defensive player.”

Here’s how pivotal Edwards is to the defense: Teammates now notice when he’s not on the field. Edwards is not part of the Eagles’ dime package, which means White would make the calls on defense. Fletcher Cox told Gannon he’s not used to hearing a voice that’s not Edwards’.

“In our defense, that’s a thinking position, and he’s as smart as they come,” Gannon said. “He’s got a really good skill set paired with a really good brain, and he plays extremely fast. … He’s football 24/7. You need to be that way if you’re going to be elite in this league.”

Sounds like a quarterback.

Mertens didn’t envision Edwards playing quarterback in college. But there was nobody else Mertens wanted as the signal caller. He needed Edwards touching the ball every play. He wanted Edwards as the team’s leader.

“Because he’s the guy when we huddle up, 10 people are looking at him,” said Mertens, who is now the coach at St. Patrick High School in Chicago. “Because he’s the guy who was going to speak at the pep rally, everyone is going to get behind.”

There were high-leverage plays when Edwards played on defense. He also chased down kickoffs. But it’s not as if many colleges saw a future NFL linebacker on film. Edwards committed to Western Michigan before the Badgers saw his potential. In a sense, it didn’t matter the position. Just let him play football.

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“That’s the key word with T.J.,” Mertens said. “He’s a football player.”

That doesn’t make this a fairy tale in which Edwards always knew he’d be in the NFL. Early in Edwards’ high school life, Mertens needed to convince him to be a football player. Edwards’ passions were baseball and basketball.

Edwards’ father, Vince Edwards, remembers taking him to a local peewee baseball competition where Edwards won all the categories. The league changed the rules so that a participant could only win two categories. His brother played rugby. His sister excelled at basketball.

Basketball went out the door “when I stopped growing,” said Edwards, who is listed as 6-foot-1. The baseball dreams faded when he “couldn’t hit a curveball,” he acknowledged. Football would be his sport. Vince gushed to his son how special it is to receive a college scholarship. “Anything you do after that is gravy,” Vince said then.

During Edwards’ sophomore year at Wisconsin, Vince realized the NFL could be in his son’s future. He was one of the best players on a defense that also included T.J. Watt. Edwards started four years at Wisconsin. He was an All-American as a junior and second-team All-American as a senior. He left college with the most interceptions and passes defended in school history, and he also led the Badgers in tackles in two of four years.

Then came the draft process, and it suddenly wasn’t about football as much as how tall he was (he measured a hair over 6 feet and weighed 230 pounds at the combine), and the substandard sprinting time.

“I’m not 6-4, 250,” Edwards said. “It’s all about measurables.”

But he still figured he would be drafted. Vince called the day Edwards went undrafted one of the worst days of his life, seeing his son gutted in that way. The family had planned a party, and Edwards wasn’t going to go.

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“Hang in there, and do what you do, and let the rest happen,” said his mother, Cathy Edwards, according to Vince.

The opportunity came with the Eagles. He earned a roster spot based on special teams, and he kept rising on the depth chart to the point where the Eagles couldn’t afford to keep him off the field.

“He’s a guy you want on your team playing linebacker,” Mertens said. “And (people) keep overlooking him. We see it time and time again. There’s probably a T.J. on every team in the NFL right now.”

This is not hyperbole. Look at the Bears defense Sunday when the Eagles are on offense, at their middle linebacker wearing No. 57, just like Edwards. It’s Jack Sanborn. He played for Mertens in high school. He took over for Edwards at Wisconsin. He ran a 4.73-second 40-yard dash. He went undrafted. He made the Bears. He’s now starting at linebacker.

“To watch the trajectory of these two guys who, again, are both great human beings and who are just phenomenal football players and who have been doubted coming into the situation, I can’t even put into words,” Mertens said. “It’s going to be a big day for a lot of people in the Chicagoland area. They’re like our proud sons.”

Edwards maintains an affinity for Chicago, in particular summertime — not quite what he’ll experience Sunday. But it might remind him of growing up going to Soldier Field, and maybe he can enjoy pizza from Pizano’s, his favorite spot in the area.

He looked at a picture from when he was a child tailgating with family and neighbors, and a smile stretched across his face. He’ll look in the stands Sunday and see those who watched him while he excelled in college and waited for his chance with the Eagles before becoming a full-time starter.

“I got so many people who believed in me, pushed me every day to get better,” Edwards said. “Those are the people that I listen to. It has kept that chip on their shoulder. It’s still there. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten that respect. It’s not something given easily in this league. So I try to (earn it) every day.”

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Edwards isn’t alone in channeling doubt into motivation. But he also made clear how he’s had people who believe in him, like his parents, his siblings, his fiancee. Vince highlighted Cathy as Edwards’ rock throughout the football journey. And there was also a family ethos that helped guide him: Don’t talk about yourself, let your actions show.

The actions will show this much Sunday: Edwards is returning to Chicago as the starting linebacker in an NFL game.

“It’s going to be an amazing feeling,” Vince said.

There’s a saying President Joe Biden likes to recite: Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.

That logic could be applied to a football team. The Eagles rank No. 28 in the NFL this season in cap dollars spent on off-ball linebackers, per Over The Cap. They were No. 29 last season. They haven’t invested a pick in the first two rounds on the position since 2012. They haven’t used a first-round pick on an off-ball linebacker since 1979.

Want to know how they value the position? Look at their budget.

Edwards will be a good litmus test for the Eagles. In one sense, he’s what the team likes to tout: a homegrown player, the product of good scouting and player development, and the type of example that can be used when trying to lure an undrafted player or to motivate players on rookie deals.

Then again, the way the Eagles view the position is why Edwards had a navigable path to the top of the depth chart. An undrafted edge rusher would have found more resistance.

The Eagles have 10 pending free agents on defense, including seven starters. Edwards and White are in the group. In the past decade, they re-signed Mychal Kendricks and Nigel Bradham to relatively lucrative contracts. They’ve otherwise gone value-shopping at the position, and they let Jordan Hicks leave in free agency after the 2018 season. Dean is waiting as a potential starter. Letting Edwards and White both leave would mean the Eagles must replace two starters and disrupt a group that has found stability.

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It’s December, and that’s when the Eagles tend to turn to Edwards. It will be apparent in Chicago when playing a team with the most rushing plays in the NFL. If Edwards keeps performing this way, he’ll force Philadelphia to try keeping him beyond this season.

It’s taken four years to establish himself. What are a few more games?

 (Top photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)