How does one of the best safeties in the NFL become better?
Minkah Fitzpatrick has every desirable tool for an NFL safety. He has tremendous ball skills and is technically sound as any when it comes to tackling. But, his greatest strength on a consensus basis would be his eye for the ball and his ability to feel out what is going on around him at all times. He processes information quickly and is among the best in the league at doing it.
But, as he said during the Steelers' voluntary OTAs on the South Side, that is just the thing he tried to hone this offseason.
"Become more advanced in my I.Q. and the understanding of the game," Fitzpatrick said. "I've been sitting down a lot and breaking down a lot of film with different coaches, whether it be a linebackers coach or G.A. (Gerald Alexander), our assistant DB coach, I'm just trying to advance my football I.Q. again because I like to be in the right position, but also don't want to be a robot and just end up -- I don't want the quarterback to know where I'm at. I want to be able to make plays that are made from I.Q., so definitely been trying to work on that."
Fitzpatrick can play anywhere on the field as it is, and he has excelled at each safety spot and in the few instances where he stood in as a cornerback. He played 640 snaps at free safety, 161 in the box, 112 in the slot, 14 at cornerback, and 12 along the defensive line last season and was targeted 36 times on 559 coverage snaps. He allowed 25 receptions for 369 yards, one touchdown, and a passer rating of 72.3. His six interceptions tied for the NFL lead.
All of that resulted him in earning his third career first-team All-Pro selection, his third Pro Bowl nod, and the Steelers' team MVP award ... in his fifth season.
"It's a blessing and an honor to be with Minkah," Patrick Peterson said earlier this month. "A cool thing about my career (is) I've had an opportunity to play with some great safeties: Adrian Wilson, Harrison Smith, Tyrann Mathieu, Budda Baker, and now Minkah is added to the list. I don't take these opportunities for granted at all."
Among those players mentioned by the future Hall of Famer Peterson are 19 Pro Bowl selections and 11 All-Pro nods. Peterson worked out with Fitzpatrick in the latter's pre-draft process in 2018, so he is not totally unfamiliar with his new teammate.
Adding in with the 13-year veteran Peterson, on the opposite end of the spectrum, are rookie cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr., each having high upside. Porter confirmed he has been running with the first-team defense, while Trice has been mainly manning the boundary as an outside cornerback.
"They're both sponges," Fitzpatrick said. "They both ask a lot of questions from myself and Pat P. and all the other guys that have been here. They're guys that are long and fast and physical, and I think that's what we need on the outside. Guys that can defend the fade, defend the deep ball, and beat up receivers and slow them down."
Fitzpatrick will stand to benefit from the plethora of offseason additions to the secondary, though having as much movement as there was at that position can make that learning curve that much more sharp.
That being said, he said he felt the defense was ahead of schedule. There was an overwhelming participation at the voluntary OTA sessions, and that idea of having what Fitzpatrick described as no "missing pieces to the puzzle" was something communicated among the defensive backs
"We're ahead of where I thought we would be," Fitzpatrick said. "There's a lot of new faces in the secondary, a lot of new faces on the defense, but I think coming in ... when you've got new faces, there's a lot to learn. There's communication, there's learning the actual defense, there's the chemistry, there's the learning (of) how each other sees the game. Sometimes that can take a while, but I think because a lot of the new guys that we brought in are experienced players, guys that played high-level football. I think that's why we are ahead."
