Buy Or Sell: The Steelers will get Minkah Fitzpatrick back to playing ‘Minkah Ball’ this year.
Explanation: The Steelers didn’t get too many “splash” plays from Minkah Fitzpatrick last year—or arguably any at all. The former All-Pro had zero interceptions, zero forced fumbles, zero sacks, zero takeaways. Though he somehow made the Pro Bowl, this was not the “Minkah Ball” that made him one of the highest-paid defensive backs in NFL history.
Buy:
The only thing that kept Minkah Fitzpatrick from playing up to his usual level was his health. He dealt with injuries throughout the season, as early as Week 2. In all, he missed seven full games and stretches of three others.
But he doesn’t have a history of injury at all. Fitzpatrick probably missed about 10 snaps during his first four seasons with the Steelers combined. The 2023 season was a significant aberration, but many seem to forget what players were like before an injury.
Fitzpatrick will remind those people, and he is better prepared this year. He arguably has a better safety partner in DeShon Elliott, with Joey Porter Jr. now established at cornerback. The safeties did a lot of covering for Patrick Peterson last year as well, and the inside linebacker room was in shambles.
Sell:
It’s true that Fitzpatrick suffered an injury in Week 2 and missed time that game, but he came back to play the next week. He was largely healthy, or healthy enough, the first half of the season, but lacked the ability to impact games. He even dropped an interception, as I recall.
The odds suggest he will make a couple plays this year, but will he be a difference-maker? Or will he be just a good starting free safety? Well before this past year, there have been plenty of games during which he looked ordinary. They go back and forth between talking about moving him around to make plays and keeping him put. Whatever they’re doing while he’s not making plays, he wants to do the opposite. Maybe Fitzpatrick is just an above-average player and not a superstar.
With the Steelers’ 2023 season in the rearview mirror following a disappointing year that came up short in the playoffs once again, it’s time to start asking more questions. Questions about the team’s future in 2024 and beyond. Questions about The Standard.
The rookie class of a year ago was on the whole impressive, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2024. And they likely need a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in the 2024 NFL Draft yet again. In addition to a revisitation of the coaching staff.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
