Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: S Minkah Fitzpatrick
Experience: 7 Years (6 with Steelers)
Even Minkah Fitzpatrick was surprised that Minkah Fitzpatrick made the Pro Bowl in 2024. So was I, because the Steelers safety had a better season in 2021 and didn’t make it then. But he got enough votes to get in and didn’t even have to go through the back door as an alternate. It marks his fifth Pro Bowl, all during his six years with the Steelers.
On the season, Minkah Fitzpatrick recorded 96 tackles, one for loss, one interception, and four passes defensed. He also recorded a forced fumble, although the Steelers could not recover it. It’s not a bad season by any means, but it’s not what we came to expect.
Certainly, one can argue that Fitzpatrick is the victim of his own success in that regard. When the Steelers traded for him in 2018, he became a dynamic playmaker. In his very first game, he had an interception and a forced fumble. He made the first-team All-Pro List, something he has done three times now, most recently in 2022.
During the 2022 season, Fitzpatrick led the NFL with a career-high six interceptions. And yet, since then, he only has one in the past two years. In every other season before 2023, he intercepted at least two passes. That includes his rookie season before the Steelers traded for him.
There have been times during Fitzpatrick’s career that he has looked like he can do anything at will. That hasn’t been the case recently, and there probably isn’t a simple reason as to why. Or rather, not a lone reason.
Over the past couple of years, the Steelers have turned over the secondary a lot. Accordingly, they have had to ask Minkah Fitzpatrick to play a more stationary, less dynamic role. Of course, that is going to impact his ability to make splash plays.
At the same time, there are cases where the opposing team shies away from throwing in his direction. Yet we can’t dismiss Fitzpatrick’s own role in his statistical decline. It also has something to do with his performance decline. He hasn’t been playing the same way he once did, and now people are asking if the Steelers should trade him.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
