Before the season, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin made a point of saying that the team wants to use Minkah Fitzpatrick more at his natural safety position. Against the Atlanta Falcons during Pittsburgh’s Week 1 win on Sunday, that was the case, as Fitzpatrick played 54 of his 56 snaps at free safety, with just two snaps in the box. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Austin said that Austin is most dangerous at safety and can make a quarterback think twice about throwing down the field.
“Yeah, he is [all over the place], because that’s where we want him. That’s where he’s effective, that’s where he’s dangerous,” Austin said via transcript provided by the team. “And I think the thing that’s good about Minkah back there is people can say what they want, but I think he discourages sometimes where a quarterback says, ‘I’m just going to indiscriminately throw this ball down the field,’ because if you do that with 39, there’s a chance he’s bringing it back the other way, and as long as he’s doing that for us, we feel like we’re in pretty good shape as a defense.”
Fitzpatrick logged the second-most slot snaps of his career last season, and that’s something Austin and the Steelers wanted to change. The addition of DeShon Elliott gave them another player who can work in the slot and a better safety partner for Fitzpatrick, and they stuck to their game plan by keeping Fitzpatrick deep.
While Fitzpatrick didn’t force any turnovers last Sunday, as Austin said, his presence alone could have made Kirk Cousins think twice about taking a shot, and the Steelers had two interceptions, one from CB Donte Jackson and one from Elliott. Fitzpatrick is a dangerous player on the back end, and teams are going to try to throw away from him if possible because he can make a play on any ball near him.
Even though Fitzpatrick didn’t force any turnovers last season, that’s bound to change this year, especially with the Steelers putting him back at his natural deep safety position. Moving around last season while dealing with injuries limited his impact, but a return to form this season looks to be in the cards.
As Austin said, as long as Fitzpatrick plays the way he’s capable of, the Steelers should be in good shape defensively this season, especially with their pass rush and defensive line, which are among the best in the league. With T.J. Watt bringing pressure and forcing quarterbacks into mistakes, it could be a really strong season for Fitzpatrick and the Steelers when it comes to creating turnovers and making plays defensively.
