It’s been a bit curious that safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has been largely limited in practice the last three days and hasn’t been included in any injury report updates, raising some concerns that something is going on.
According to head coach Mike Tomlin, Fitzpatrick is fine from a health standpoint. Instead, the Steelers are minimizing Fitzpatrick’s participation in team 11-on-11 sessions to get good looks at other safeties, including DeShon Elliott, Damontae Kazee, rookie Ryan Watts, Nate Meador and veteran cornerback Cameron Sutton getting some work at safety.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor tweeted the comments from Tomlin regarding Fitzpatrick.
“He’s practiced every day. He did seven on seven today,” Tomlin said regarding Fitzpatrick, according to video via Steelers Live on Twitter. “He did individual, he did the same thing last night. We’re just minimizing him in that effort to see others.”
Previously, Fitzpatrick had been limited the last three practices. After dealing with a number of injuries last season that limited him to just 10 games and compromised his impact, there was some concern that Fitzpatrick could have been dealing with some sort of ailment.
Fitzpatrick was asked by Pryor after practice if he was dealing with any sort of ailment. Unsurprisingly, the All-Pro safety had the same comment as Tomlin, and said that the coach is protecting him from himself because Fitzpatrick knows one speed, and that’s full speed, in practices.
“No, I’m healthy. Just year seven. Got a lot of miles,” Fitzpatrick said to Pryor according to video she posted on Twitter. “I’m blowing up the GPS every single day when I practice. And Coach T’s telling me, ‘Mink it’s a marathon.’ You know what I’m saying? And sometimes he has to, he says it all the time, he has to save me from me sometimes.”
Instead, according to Tomlin, it’s just about making sure the Steelers get a good look at guys behind him on the depth chart since Fitzpatrick is a known commodity.
In fact, Tomlin called Fitzpatrick the “centerpiece” of the secondary on Friday during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio’s “Movin The Chains” with Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller and stated that any sort of issues last season in the secondary could be traced to Fitzpatrick’s absence.
The 2023 season was a tough one for Fitzpatrick. He played in just 10 games total, suffering a hamstring injury early in the Week 8 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, causing him to miss the next four games.
Once he returned to the lineup in Week 13 against the Arizona Cardinals, 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. He did return for the Wild Card loss to the Bills.
Dealing with that many injuries while also having to move around quite a bit to help cover for deficiencies in other areas led to a quiet season from Fitzpatrick. He had 64 tackles, which is really solid in 10 regular-season games, but he didn’t have the ball productivity many have become accustomed to in his career.
Entering the 2024 season, the hope is that Fitzpatrick can get back to being that true game-changing piece defensively for the Steelers, much like he has been to this point in his career. To do that, health will be key. It’s good to hear that he’s not dealing with anything and that his limited availability in practice is instead due to the Steelers wanting to get looks at others as the roster-evaluation process continues.
