Teryl Austin's promotion to Steelers defensive coordinator stems from a good run as the team's secondary coach and the connection he developed with Minkah Fitzpatrick. What will determine his legacy in his new position is how well Fitzpatrick flourishes as a game-changing safety in the Steelers' defense. Since Austin joined the team in 2019, the Steelers have intercepted 51 passes in three seasons.
Fitzpatrick leads the team by far with 11 of those interceptions, leading the best three-year surge in interceptions by the team recorded 54 interceptions between 2004-2006 in the first years of Dick LeBeau's second stint at defensive coordinator. While the Steelers' defensive backs haven't recorded all of those interceptions, they've played a huge role in that burst under Austin's coaching.
But after the Steelers recorded 20 interceptions in 2019 and 18 interceptions in 2020, that number dropped to 13 in 2021. Fitzpatrick only recorded two interceptions, but that was more of a result from the team's necessary adjustments and schemes that limited Fitzpatrick due to his increased roles across the field than any regression by the two-time First Team All-Pro safety.
Since LeBeau became defensive coordinator in 2004, only four players for the Steelers have finished a season with four or more interceptions. Troy Polamalu (2004, 2008, 2010), Deshea Townsend (2004), Joe Haden (2019), and Fitzpatrick (2019, 2020). That's pretty special company to be the only other Steeler during that era not named Polamalu to record multiple seasons with four or more interceptions, and half of those players posted those years under Austin.
It's no secret Fitzpatrick is a phenomenal athlete who puts together several key qualities to be an elite NFL safety. But what's allowed Fitzpatrick to explode in his best games has been how he was deployed in the Steelers' defenses. In 2019 and 2020, the Steelers used Fitzpatrick more often in zone assignments that allowed him to roam the middle of the field, read and process plays, and then break on the ball. Fitzpatrick combined his football instincts with being a tedious student of the game who has demonstrated weekly comprehension of how to defend against each opponent's most deployed passing concepts.
Here's one of his best plays from 2020. Watch how Fitzpatrick jumped from an initial disguise of cover 2 with Terrell Edmunds to playing a robber zone role in a cover 1 defense that allowed him to intercept Baker Mayfield and return it for a touchdown:
Moments like those proved to be game changing for the Steelers. In games when Fitzpatrick intercepted a pass, the Steelers have been 7-2, with the only losses coming against the 49ers in 2019 and Bengals in 2021.
But those moments didn't come as often for the Steelers in 2021, and largely because Fitzpatrick's role in Keith Butler's defense shifted a bit more. The departures of Steven Nelson and Mike Hilton, along with the injuries suffered from Haden, forced the Steelers' cornerback group to take step back. Cameron Sutton did a decent job filling in and Ahkello Witherspoon eventually became a reliable starter, but it was clear for most of the season that the Steelers needed to support their cornerbacks more in coverage.
The best asset they had to support them with, turned out to be Fitzpatrick. Watch how in this 2021 pass by Mayfield that Fitzpatrick isn't roaming the middle of the field prowling for a mistake, but instead he was providing support coverage behind the Steelers' slot cornerback Arthur Maulet against Jarvis Landry. Fitzpatrick is there to make the play, but you can notice how he wasn't in a similar position to his 2020 interception where he was allowed more freedom to read the play instead of babysit overtop of Maulet:
It was a theme for the Steelers' defense throughout 2021. Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler weren't able to let him be nearly as free as he had been in his first two seasons with the team.
Fitzpatrick was still a saving grace for the Steelers throughout the season, even if those saving plays weren't interceptions. The pass to Marquise Brown he broke up in overtime helped the Steelers beat the Ravens in overtime in a must-win game for the team to make the playoffs. He also had crucial breakups in key moments against the Browns and Bills that saved big plays.
But a play that sticks out to me about how many weaknesses Fitzpatrick covered up in the Steelers' defense was this breakup of a pass from Patrick Mahomes to Byron Pringle. The Steelers' defense didn't have as many assets in 2021, which forced them to gamble more with their play calls to confuse quarterbacks. That's why they tried this weakside blitz with T.J. Watt dropping back in coverage with Robert Spillane to try and throw off Mahomes.
But when that blitz is picked up, Mahomes recognizes he has a receiver against a linebacker who's not built for coverage and goes to the deep crossing route. Fitzpatrick recognized the play, broke on the pass and knocked it out of Pringle's hands:
In 2019 and 2020, the Steelers might've had Hilton, Nelson or Sutton to be a more trustworthy option to cover a receiver on that kind of a route. But that's another example of all the different ways Fitzpatrick was coming out of his roaming safety role to help other parts of the defense.
The other aspect that didn't help Fitzpatrick's interception numbers was how the Steelers dropped from being the eleventh-best rushing defense in 2020 to being the absolute worst in the NFL in 2021. That's the biggest reason why Fitzpatrick led the team with 124 tackles on the season. Since combined (solo and assist) tackles became a tracked statistic in 1987, those 124 tackles are ninth-most by a Steeler, and are the most by a defensive back on the team. The only players with more tackles in a season during that span are James Farrior, Lawrence Timmons, Earl Holmes, and Levon Kirkland.
That's not the company you want your free safety to keep, because if he's tackling more, that means he's getting less opportunities to intercept passes. Make no mistake, these weren't plays Fitzpatrick was late or had any role in why they didn't work. The vast majority of run plays with long gains that he made tackles on were him coming to the rescue as the deep safety to save a touchdown. Watch this 16-yard run by Dalvin Cook and how Fitzpatrick was 17 yards off the ball at the start of the play. Neither Joe Schobert, Chris Wormley, nor Devin Bush could get off their blocks, allowing Cook to charge through the line untouched.
As the only man in the middle of the field who had a real chance to stop Cook, one of the best NFL running backs, Fitzpatrick picked his spot, widened his stance, and made a form tackle to limit the big play from being a touchdown:
Those aren't plays where Fitzpatrick warrants criticism, and should be admired for how he can turn from a playmaker safety on the back end of the defense into a willing tackler.
But again, Austin's goal for 2022 and beyond has to build around getting Fitzpatrick back into the role of a roaming safety who can use his instincts and game study to make more game changing interceptions. For those who may think that he might have problems in that department, there were still examples of Fitzpatrick showing his range and ability to make big plays on the ball.
Here's his interception of Joe Burrow in 2021, when he played a deep cover 2 zone and jumped a deep heave Burrow put up while under pressure. Burrow went from targeting Tee Higgins against James Pierre to watching Fitzpatrick jump the pass and return it back the other way. If the Steelers' offense had been able to provide any assistance in that game, this could've been one of those game changing moments that Fitzpatrick has sparked several times over for the team:
Anyone saying that Fitzpatrick isn't actually any good in coverage isn't looking at the 17 games of tape where he was taking on several other roles and still being an asset in coverage. For example, Pro Football Focus rated Fitzpatrick with a coverage grade of 46.7 on the season, ranking him as the 155th-best safety in coverage.
That's completely ridiculous.
But what isn't ridiculous is the importance Fitzpatrick plays in the future plans of the Steelers' defense. In this coming era without a franchise quarterback like Ben Roethlisberger to guide the team, it will be even more imperative for the Steelers to assemble an elite defense to carry the team to its wins. The defense had pretty much done that the last three years, as 21 of the team's 29 wins since 2019 have come when the defense has both allowed 20 or less points in a game while also tying or winning the turnover battle.
If Austin wants to get his second NFL stint as defensive coordinator off to a hot start, he'll need a defense capable of allowing Fitzpatrick to play the roaming safety who focuses more on creating turnovers than babysitting outmatched cornerbacks. That might mean drafting high at cornerback in the 2022 NFL Draft and/or making a splash in free agency by getting one of the top free agent cornerbacks on the market like J.C. Jackson or Stephon Gilmore. But whoever it is, Austin will be helped look a lot smarter by Fitzpatrick if he's allowed to play the X-factor role that made him a superstar player in the first place.
All indications suggest that the Steelers foresee him doing just that, as Fitzpatrick expressed overwhelming approval for Austin as a coach in his final interviews after the season.
