Pittsburgh Steelers FS Minkah Fitzpatrick went nearly two full years without recording an interception. What’s particularly remarkable about that is just prior to his drought, he led the league in interceptions. Of course, he does a great deal more than pick off passes. Still, he has seen his impact lessen and the outside pressure rise.
In fact, many talking heads are debating whether the Steelers should part ways with Fitzpatrick. And a lot of them don’t seem to always make a distinction between trading and releasing him. Despite a downturn by his standards, most still begrudgingly agree the best move is to retain him.
“I would keep [Minkah Fitzpatrick], but I’d want to use him differently”, Steelers reporter Brian Batko said on the Post-Gazette’s Chipped Ham and Football podcast. “You take a guy like that off you’re roster and then you’re opening up a whole other deficiency going into free agency and the draft. While he was pretty putrid this year, I think you’ve pretty much got no choice but to keep him around”.
“Pretty putrid” is a surprisingly potent way to describe it, though. While Fitzpatrick hasn’t played great lately—even he was surprised by his 2024 Pro Bowl nod—is “putrid” fair? Used figuratively, the Oxford English Dictionary defines the word thusly: “Corrupt, decadent; rotten; loathsome, unpleasant. Also (colloquial) as a general term of disparagement: contemptible; dreadful, useless”. Of course, Batko was speaking conversationally with Chris Mueller on the Chipped Ham and Football podcast. It’s not like he wrote this in an article. But nevertheless, they are words he spoke as a Steelers reporter.
Fitzpatrick’s most putrid season yet saw him record 96 tackles with one for loss. He did record a forced fumble, netting one interception, but with just four passes defensed. The only season he had with worse numbers was 2023, when he missed extensive time due to injury. He had no such excuse last season, starting every game.
The Steelers traded for Minkah Fitzpatrick, a former 11th-overall pick, in 2019. He earned first-team All-Pro status in three of his first four seasons and five total Pro Bowls in six years. During his first four seasons in Pittsburgh, he intercepted 17 passes, including six in 2022. Since then, however, he only has one, and seven passes defensed.
While Fitzpatrick isn’t free of blame for his own production, the Steelers have also used him differently. Due to injuries and loss of personnel, they have been less free to use him as a single-high safety. More generally, they haven’t been able to play him as often in positions that aid him in making big plays.
But even his raw coverage numbers have regressed. Our charting, for example, has him allowing 23 catches on 30 targets for 317 yards and three touchdowns in 2024. He gave up the worst passer rating allowed on the team, by far the worst of his career, at 129.4.
Still, while he had some uncharacteristic lapses, “pretty putrid” seems too strong for Minkah Fitzpatrick’s 2024 season. That doesn’t necessarily make a $15,500,000 base salary for half an interception per season sit any better, though. Obviously, at some point, the production has to match the compensation. DeShon Elliott does his job for a fraction of that, and yet he made a lot more impact plays in 2024 than Fitzpatrick.
