The subpar performance by the Steelers' defense down the stretch last season was one of the reasons why the team lost its final five games and was bounced from the first round of the playoffs yet again. Among the concerns was Minkah Fitzpatrick, despite being named to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time.

Following today's OTAs at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Fitzpatrick addressed the media for the first time about all of the issues, including his and the defense's overall performance. The biggest issue that stood out to him was a complete breakdown in communication, which is now something being heavily emphasized among those in attendance at OTAs.

"Leave no gray. Football, I think, should be black and white, in regards to execution and schematics. There should be no gray," Fitzpatrick said. "It should be this is how we're doing it, this is how we're going to communicate. If I give you a thumbs up, you give me a thumbs up back. If I give you a thumbs down, you give me a thumbs down back. It's as simple as that. So when guys aren't doing it or establishing this is what we're doing, if you don't want to do it, you ain't going to be here. You're not going to be on the field. Really pressing down and instilling that in everybody."

Of course, Fitzpatrick himself wanted a lot more than just one interception and four passes defensed, especially since he was only two years removed from leading the NFL in interceptions. When Fitzpatrick is at the top of his game, he's one of the best ball-hawking safeties in the league. We didn't see that in 2024, and figuring out why is something Fitzpatrick took upon himself once the season came to an end:

"Obviously, I always take a physical break," Fitzpatrick said. "Mentally, I always run through -- they made about 20 or 30 cut-ups a whole bunch of different stuff. I usually run through that. Just running through it, seeing what I can improve on, the areas we all need to improve on as a whole. And then especially as a secondary, just paying attention to the things we've gotta do better.

"There were too many instances where one guy thought one thing and another guy thought another, and then we weren't on the same page and that led to a big play. I think that was one of the larger takeaways, for sure."

But of all the things that didn't go his way last season, pressing to try and be a ball hawk or make plays wasn't one of the things that jumped out when he combed through the film.

"No, I don't think so," Fitzpatrick said. "I did what was asked of me."

What the Steelers have asked of Fitzpatrick for two seasons now is playing as a safety net for others in coverage. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Fitzpatrick aligned 12.6 yards away from the line of scrimmage on average in 2024, the fourth-deepest of any player in the NFL that played at least 250 snaps. 

Fitzpatrick's often been the lone deep safety in Cover 1 or taking away the deep middle third in Cover 3. Those are both single-high safety looks, and no team in the NFL ran more single-high coverages than the Steelers. That takes Fitzpatrick far away from the line of scrimmage, making it harder to be an impact player more often.

Last season, the Steelers had Donte Jackson opposite of Joey Porter Jr. While Jackson is pretty solid in zone coverage, he was a liability in man coverage. And, whether it was Beanie Bishop as an undrafted rookie in the slot or Cam Sutton, who took a nosedive in performance, it's clear Mike Tomlin didn't trust his defense in man coverage in crucial situations last season.

In 2024, the Steelers were in man coverage 31.9% of the time on third down, ranking 25th in the league. Going back just two years to 2022, they were in man coverage 42.4% of the time on third down, ranking 10th.

With Darius Slay now signed to play opposite of Porter, the Steelers are set to be a better man coverage team.

"A guy like that is extremely valuable," Fitzpatrick said. "When you have him in man-to-man or even in-zone, you know that it's solid over there. There's no leaning to one guy, especially when you've got Joey on the other side. There's no real concerns out there. You know he's going to be in the right position. He's going to do his job at a high level. So, you can just play ball."

Just playing ball is something the Steelers need from Fitzpatrick. While having Slay now in the fold, and even Juan Thornhill to be a deep centerfielder when he's on the field, Fitzpatrick still doesn't know exactly how he's going to be used this season. Or if he does, he's keeping a tight lid on it.

"I don't know," Fitzpatrick said. "We're going to have to see when we get closer to the season."