When he saw his name on the Pro Bowl roster, even Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick expressed surprise. At least statistically, he hasn’t been at his best for two years—and sometimes in non-statistical ways, too. Once a perennial All-Pro, he has people questioning his future in Pittsburgh. Some of the beat writers have been particularly harsh, but big price tags come with big expectations.
It was Mike DeFabo of The Athletic who first broached the subject of the Steelers entertaining the idea of trading Minkah Fitzpatrick, and he just brought it up again this week. About a month ago, Brian Batko described his 2024 season as “pretty putrid”. Recently, he didn’t sound overly optimistic about Fitzpatrick’s future, despite being stuck with him.
Asked in a recent chat session if the Steelers could scheme Fitzpatrick to free up his play more or if the game has passed him by, Batko sort of split the difference. “I’d say the game has passed him by the way he used to play it”, he wrote. “Skeptical that he still has that first step and burst to execute what his instincts tell him. But he can be a sure tackler and utilize his football IQ”.
Quite frankly, I don’t see much grounds for this repetition of the idea that he has lost a step. Minkah Fitzpatrick has had some issues in recent years, but range isn’t one, in my opinion. He has misjudged some big-time plays that he would normally shut down, but not because of speed.
I do think this is an important point to consider, though, because it sets the range of possibilities. If he isn’t the same player he once was athletically, then the Steelers will never have “the Minkah Fitzpatrick of old” back. If, however, he is still that same player, then that talent and production are still in there somewhere. Then it becomes a question of getting it out rather than whether it still exists at all.
I will say that there are things we have seen from him that we hadn’t seen before, or without this frequency. Fitzpatrick was always a sure tackler and reliable coverage guy for the Steelers. Over the past two years, he has missed more tackles, occasionally whiffing badly, yet he also makes great plays occasionally. His one-on-one coverage numbers slipped last year, but is that the new norm or a blip?
My biggest concern is that he is no longer the lockdown back-end player. Are Steelers opponents less afraid to test Minkah Fitzpatrick down the field? Recent results have suggested that they shouldn’t be. The former argument for drops in numbers was that teams wouldn’t throw in his direction. Now they are willing to do so, and it’s working more than it should. But is it that simple, or is there something the Steelers can do to improve the situation with Fitzpatrick?
