After yet another All=Pro and Pro Bowl season, it should come as absolutely no surprise that Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is the best in the game at the position.
That’s the spot Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar slotted Fitzpatrick in at Monday morning, ranking him the best safety in the NFL ahead of the 2023 season. Prior to the No. 1 ranking this year, Fitzpatrick was No. 11 in Farrar’s rankings last season at this same time, so it’s quite the jump up the rankings for the 26-year-old safety.
“Last season, Fitzpatrick played 640 snaps at free safety, 161 in the box, 112 in the slot, 14 at cornerback, and 12 along the defensive line. Wherever he was, opposing quarterbacks and receivers were not generally having a great time,” Farrar writes regarding Fitzpatrick’s No. 1 ranking at the position. “Fitzpatrick allowed 25 catches on 36 targets for 369 yards, 123 yards after the catch, one touchdown, six interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 72.3. At safety specifically, whether in single- or two-deep coverage, Fitzpatrick’s field sense and eye for the ball made him an intelligent weapon for Mike Tomlin’s defense at all times.”
Since coming over to the Steelers from the Miami Dolphins in a 2019 trade, Fitzpatrick has transformed the back-half of the Steelers’ defense under head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinators Keith Butler and now Teryl Austin.
Fitzpatrick spent the majority of his rookie season as a slot corner for the Miami Dolphins, hence his corner-like agility. He played a hybrid star position at Alabama under Nick Saban, and being coached by great defensive minds like Saban, Brian Flores in Pittsburgh and Miami along with Tomlin and Austin has surely helped his football IQ and ability.
His IQ is already one of his strengths, but it’s something that he’s emphasized building on to make his game even better. His ball skills are among the best in the NFL, leading the league in interceptions last season and he’s had at least two every season he’s been in Pittsburgh.
His six picks tied for the league lead, the first Steeler to accomplish that since Mel Blount all the way back in 1975. Fitzpatrick’s picks were timely too, two coming late in the fourth quarter to close out wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens, propelling the Steelers to a 7-2 stretch run that nearly saw them make the playoffs. In fact, Fitzpatrick was the only player in the NFL this season with two interceptions in the final two minutes of games.
He’s not just a pure coverage safety either. He led the Steelers with 124 tackles in 2021, a year in which it was a necessity for him to make plays due to Pittsburgh’s porous run defense. While being the team’s leading tackler isn’t something that should ever happen again, it goes to show Fitzpatrick’s multi-faceted abilities and versatility as he can drop back in coverage or come up and make plays in the box.
Fitzpatrick is only going to get better. He’s still young – he turns 27 in November — and signed a long-term contract last offseason to keep him in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future.
With Fitzpatrick patrolling the secondary, he’s become the point man of the Steelers’ defense as a coverage expert, one that can do anything asked of him in the secondary. He’s far and away the best safety in the NFL, and he’s consistently shown that in his time in the Black and Gold over the last four seasons.
