Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said during mandatory minicamp a couple of weeks ago that the Pittsburgh Steelers need to do a better job of freeing up Minkah Fitzpatrick. If you look at his 2023 snap counts, he played more combined snaps in the box and in the slot than he did at his most impactful position of free safety. That was born out of necessity as Damontae Kazee is more of a free safety, and the team didn’t have a true starting-caliber box safety.
Kazee was asked about DeShon Elliott’s free agency signing after one of the Spring practices. He thinks he can be the key to unlocking Fitzpatrick and freeing up the safeties to play to their strengths.
“It’s good ’cause you need a big body in the box for the runs and stuff,” Kazee said in a video posted by Post-Gazette Sports on YouTube. “Last year, the boy Mink got beat up there, so I think it’s a good deal that he’s up there.”
When asked specifically about getting Fitzpatrick back to “Minkah ball,” Kazee said, “It’s all about the strong safety role, just staying healthy there. That’s where it starts because they’re not going to want to put me at strong safety, so I have to go to free safety.”
As for Elliott, most of his starting experience with the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins came at free safety. In the film room post I put together on the site immediately following his signing, I saw a safety who was better suited for play in the box. He doesn’t have the top-end speed to play center fielder as the deep safety, and he showed a real willingness to throw his body into the pile and support the run defense.
Listed at 6-0, 210 pounds on the Steelers’ team site, he has a dense enough frame to play in the box. DC Teryl Austin also said in that interview that Elliott will “punish some ball carriers,” so it seems that everybody is aligned on what role he will fill within the defense.
Terrell Edmunds may not have lived up to the first-round draft pick spent on him, but he was effective as a box safety to allow Fitzpatrick to do what he does best. The hope is that DeShon Elliott can allow the team to get back to that setup. The defense has a chance to be one of the league’s best in 2024, and Fitzpatrick getting back to his ball-hawking ways could go a long way toward making that happen.
