It was an injury-plagued 2023 season for Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, one that saw him miss time due to a hamstring and knee injury, which ultimately sapped his production.
But that didn’t hurt his standing as one of the star safeties in the NFL, at least according to Pro Football Focus.
In the top 32 safety rankings published Monday morning, PFF ranked Fitzpatrick at No. 4 in the NFL, behind only Tampa Bay’s Antoine Winfield Jr., Baltimore’s Kyle Hamilton and Atlanta’s Jessie Bates III.
“Injuries in 2023 slowed Fitzpatrick, who missed multiple games and had a down year overall. While his run-defense grade still finished above 80.0, Fitzpatrick earned a coverage grade below 70.0 for just the second time in the past five seasons while logging a career-low 625 snaps, including the postseason,” PFF’s Zoltan Buday writes.
It’s hard to overstate just how much the injuries slowed Fitzpatrick down in 2023. The All-Pro safety played in just 10 games, suffering a hamstring injury early in the Week 8 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, causing him to miss the next four games, though the Steelers did not place him on the Reserve/Injured list.
Recovered from the hamstring injury, Fitzpatrick returned to the lineup in Week 13 against the Arizona Cardinals. But injuries struck again as he ended up breaking his hand, playing through the injury. Two weeks later against the Indianapolis Colts Fitzpatrick suffered a knee injury, knocking him out of the 30-13 loss and eventually ending his regular season, though he did return for the Wild Card loss to the Bills.
In those 10 games, Fitzpatrick wasn’t really his usual self either as he had to wear a number of hats again defensively to try and cover up some deficiencies for the Steelers. It was very similar to the 2021 season where Fitzpatrick was used more in run support to help the defense, which took away his ability to be that ball-hawking safety.
For the first time in his career, Fitzpatrick didn’t record an interception on the season. Still, he made a Pro Bowl — somehow — on the season.
Now, with free agent addition DeShon Elliott joining the safety room and veteran Damontae Kazee back for another season, Fitzpatrick has the adequate help surrounding him in the safety room. That should allow him to slide back into that versatile, freelancing style that allows him to make a number of plays on the football and provide splash for the Steelers’ defense.
With health back on his side in 2024, Fitzpatrick should once again return to his dominant ways and remind the league who the best safety is, much like he was in 2022.
