"Minkah Ball!' Steelers Adjusting Defense to Benefit Fitzpatrick
Depending on who you ask, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is coming off the worst year of his professional career.
For the first time in his career, he missed more than three games. He logged just three passes defended. He failed to create a turnover, meaning for the first time as a professional, Fitzpatrick failed to record an interception.
Part of that blame can be put on a lack of playing time. Knee and hamstring injuries cut his season short, limiting the opportunities for him to make the game-changing plays he’s been known for. Some of it, though, was on schematic changes that changed Fitzpatrick’s role.
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Both the safety and the Steelers seem intent on changing that in 2024.
“Just let me play ball – Minkah Ball,” Fitzpatrick said, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “We’ve got to look at the ‘22 tape and see what we did there.”
Interestingly enough, the Steelers defense improved while their star safety declined, posting top-10 marks in expected points per dropback and dropback success rate, rather than below-average rates in the year prior.
Optimizing Fitzpatrick, though, could take Pittsburgh to the next level when added to the improvements to the front seven.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin agrees with his wunderkind, and took accountability for last year’s performance.
“The biggest thing is as coaches, our job is to try to get all of our guys in the best position as possible so they can play well as they can and play up to their abilities,” Austin said. “And so last year I probably failed in that regard. We tried to have him do too much stuff, and I think I’m going to get back to really what makes him special.”
That likely entails Fitzpatrick returning to a more full-time free safety role. Last year was Fitzpatrick’s most versatile – playing only 120 more snaps at free safety than in the box or in the slot, the lowest of his career. In 2022, he played approximately 500 more snaps at free safety than anywhere else.
“Minkah is at his best when he’s playing back a little bit deeper, seeing things and being able to react and see the game,” Austin told Pryor. “He sees it really fast, and so my job is to try to keep him back there as much as possible … We’re going to have other guys do those (extraneous) duties and let Minkah get back to where he’s really – not just good, exceptional.”