Last season, when things looked dire for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the front office didn’t blink. Even minus the team’s franchise quarterback, the Steelers pressed on. This included a huge in-season trade to bring safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Steelers from the Miami Dolphins.
From the third game going forward, the Steelers defense had a resurgence, led by the playmaking of Fitzpatrick. He became an All-Pro in just his second season. His tremendous effort while only being 23 years old earned him a spot on the Pro Football Focus’ Top 25 under 25 list.
Here’s what they had to say about Fitzpatrick at No. 18.
The Steelers didn’t have a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but that’s because they spent it on a 23-year-old safety whose 84.4 overall grade ranked sixth at the position after landing in Pittsburgh prior to Week 3. You don’t want to make too many conclusions based on two-week sample sizes, but it’s hard not to see the kind of effect Fitzpatrick had on the Pittsburgh defense from his free safety position after joining the team. Over the first two weeks of the season, the Steelers allowed 155 passing yards on throws 20 or more yards downfield (t-11th most). That number was just 376 over the remaining 14 games (second lowest).
There’s no denying the impact Fitzpatrick had on the Steelers defense. There was a distinct dip in splash plays later in the season but this can be attributed to offenses avoiding him on the back end and it only allowed other Steelers to rack up big plays.
In other Steelers-related news on the list, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster checked in at No. 25 despite a down season.
