The Steelers are well into their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answered, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? How might they tackle the 2023 NFL Draft? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: How will Terrell Edmunds’ absence affect Minkah Fitzpatrick as he transitions to a new partner?
Nobody has been a bigger advocate for Terrell Edmunds than Minkah Fitzpatrick since the latter arrived in Pittsburgh in 2019. He has gone to bat for his fellow safety at every opportunity, whether crediting his play on the field, acknowledging how it helped Fitzpatrick’s own performance, or perhaps especially whenever it came time to talk contracts and his long-term future.
At least in his public comments, Fitzpatrick very much seemed as though he wanted to play next to Edmunds for the remainder of his career, as his Ryan Clark to Troy Polamalu. We don’t know what the future beyond 2023 holds, but before now, Edmunds is in Philadelphia.
Going into this next season, we’re not 100 percent sure who will even be next to Fitzpatrick, or if it will even be down to only one player. It will either be Damontae Kazee or Keanu Neal, or some combination of the two based on in-game circumstances. Oddly, the Steelers paid both of them more than Edmunds.
While it’s all down to business, though, it’s still fair to wonder. Will Edmunds’ departure have any lingering impact on Fitzpatrick’s game? He obviously liked playing together, and they had years of collaboration to draw from.
He worked with Kazee a bit last year, but Neal will be a new partner. There will have to be some type of transition figuring out each other’s rhythms, but could this adjustments period hinder his playmaking ability, possibly because he feels compelled to play more conservatively, less assured that whoever else is back there who is not Edmunds is covering for him?
Or is all he really needs just a solid veteran safety next to him, which whom that requisite chemistry can be ingrained within an offseason?
