Minkah Fitzpatrick made it clear during OTAs last week that he wants to play “Minkah Ball” in 2024 and get back to forcing turnovers. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is going to help that happen. During Day 2 of mandatory minicamp, Austin told reporters, including Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that the goal is for Fitzpatrick to play more deep safety in 2024.
Per Batko, Austin said that Fitzpatrick is “is at his best when he’s playing back a little bit deeper, seeing things and able to react/see the game because he sees it really fast. So my job is to keep him back there as much as possible.”
Brooke Pryor of ESPN tweeted that Austin said he “failed in that regard” last season as the team tried to have Fitzpatrick do too much all over the field.
“Our job is to try to get all of our guys in the best position as possible so they can play as well as they can and play up to their abilities. And so last year I probably failed in that regard,” Austin said. “We tried to have him do too much stuff, and I think I’m going to get back to really what makes him special.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick said last week he wanted to get back to playing “Minkah Ball” after moving around in the secondary led to him having one of his worst statistical seasons in 2023 — no INTs, career-low 64 tackles.
DC Teryl Austin admitted today he asked Fitzpatrick to do too…
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) June 12, 2024
Fitzpatrick played 134 snaps in the slot last season, the most since his rookie season. He also lined up 149 times in the box, per Pro Football Focus, the second-most in his career, as he played 161 box snaps in 2022. Those high numbers are especially notable when you consider that Fitzpatrick played just 10 games last season due to injury. He only had 227 snaps at free safety, so he played in the box almost as much as at his natural safety position.
Austin was forced a little bit to move Fitzpatrick around, with injuries at linebacker causing coverage issues against tight ends. As a versatile playmaker, the onus fell on Fitzpatrick to move up and move around the defense. But that’s not where he’s best suited, and while it was done out of necessity, Fitzpatrick needs to get back to playing more of a deep, true free safety role in 2024.
The team upgraded his safety partner by signing DeShon Elliott, and with guys like Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson in the mix now at linebacker, there shouldn’t be as much of a need for Fitzpatrick to move around the defense.
It would be a surprise if Fitzpatrick went a second straight season without generating any turnovers, and hopefully the plan to keep him in more of a deep-safety role comes to fruition and Minkah can get back to being Minkah.
