Including the playoffs, 24 games have gone by where All-Pro Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is active and doesn’t have an interception or a forced turnover of any kind. He forced a fumble a couple weeks ago, but it wasn’t recovered by the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s the closest he has come to providing the splash that he was known for during his first four seasons in Pittsburgh.
That kind of splash is a big part of what made him a top safety in the league and why he set the market for safeties with a four-year, $73.6 million contract extension in 2022. With big money comes big expectations. Right or wrong, people are starting to wonder about Fitzpatrick’s impact matching his pay.
Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin went to bat for him during his Thursday press conference.
“He does so much for us,” Austin said in a transcript provided by the team. “I know sometimes we all want splash, we all like splash. But a lot of the things that he does that allows us to line up and play another play and have an opportunity to stop people, that’s immense in terms of us keeping people out of the end zone and doing different things.
“We love the splash, but he really does make us all better all around in the back. There will be some throws down the middle, but not a whole lot.”
Fitzpatrick has spent the majority of his time as a center fielder at free safety. That’s been his primary position since joining the team, but he used to move around a bit more into the box or as a slot corner.
Since the bye week, part of which has to do with Cam Sutton’s return from suspension, Fitzpatrick has moved around a lot more. Of his 130 combined snaps in the slot or down in the box this season, 78 of them have come in the last four games.
Fitzpatrick talked about wanting to get back to “Minkah ball” this offseason, and Teryl Austin expressed how he needed to put Fitzpatrick in better situations to make an impact. That hasn’t really happened, but Fitzpatrick still makes an impact. Opposing teams are still talking about him heavily in their game plans — we saw as much on Hard Knocks from the Cincinnati Bengals.
His impact just can’t be felt as much. He takes away a portion of the field that teams shy away from attacking. That alone is very valuable to the defense. The splash plays will come eventually, and I have a feeling that once one happens, the dam will break, and they will come in bunches.
It isn’t the first time that Austin has been asked about this, and as long as Fitzpatrick’s turnover drought continues, it won’t be the last time either.
