Quietly, one of the most important relationships that needs cultivated for the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of the 2024 season is the one between star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and free agent signee DeShon Elliott.
After signing a two-year, $6 million deal with the Steelers in free agency, Elliott is being counted on to shore up the safety position alongside Fitzpatrick, giving the multi-time All-Pro safety the ability to go back to doing what he does best. That is roaming and making plays, rather than playing near the line of scrimmage.
To do that, the two safeties will need to be on the same page and communicate clearly, which has placed a major emphasis on their relationship early this offseason.
For Elliott, who sat down with Steelers.com’s Missi Matthews for a one-on-one interview, he already loves the way Fitzpatrick works. Now, it’s about building that relationship with him off the field to really get to a good place.
“I think me and Minkah have been hanging out a lot more,” Elliott told Matthews, according to video via Steelers.com. “…I was told that he doesn’t leave his house much, but I’ve been trying to get him to leave his house. So, we’ve been going to lunches, dinners, breakfast. Shoot, we’ve been doing workouts together outside of the facility one day at a time.
“Of course things aren’t perfect yet, but eventually I wanna be able to mesh like peanut butter and jelly and I think we will be.”
That should be music to the ears of Steelers fans as two key pieces in the secondary are working out together, spending time together outside of the facility and cultivating that relationship, which should lead to success on the field.
The last time the Steelers had two big-time safeties who were great friends and had a strong relationship off the field, Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark were roaming the field in the Black and Gold.
That’s not to say that Fitzpatrick and Elliott are going to be the next Polamalu and Clark. But it’s an effort to show that a relationship off the field can strengthen play on the field, making working together in the heat of the battle easier thanks to familiarity and understanding.
With six weeks between now and the start of training camp in late July at Saint Vincent College, this is the perfect time — in Elliott’s eyes — to build the relationship off the field.
“I think now is the best time for us to get to know each other off the field because on the field we’re gonna work together period. But I’m complementing him however way I need to, so that is what it is,” Elliott said of Fitzpatrick. “But I think off the field, just like picking his brain and knowing who he is, because we came out in college the same, we went outta high school to the Under Armour game together. Coming outta college, same draft. We were at the college football awards together for the same award.
“So our lives have crossed paths so much. So I think now me finally getting know him as a person, like I’ve always heard through the grapevine he’s a great person, but really being around him, like, I really enjoy him.”
Coming out of high school, Fitzpatrick was the No. 30 player in the country, choosing Alabama as a four-star recruit in New Jersey. Elliott on the other hand, was a four-star recruit coming out of Rockwall, Texas, who chose Texas as the No. 191 player in the country.
Later in their college careers, Fitzpatrick and Elliott were up for the Jim Thorpe Award in college football for the nation’s best defensive back, an award that Fitzpatrick won. Then, the two were part of the 2018 NFL Draft, with Fitzpatrick going in the first round to the Miami Dolphins and Elliott in the sixth round to Baltimore.
There is some familiarity there. But now they’re teammates and looking to strengthen their relationship.
Hopefully they go together like peanut butter and jelly, which could lead to a big season for the two at the safety position.
