First Call: Minkah Fitzpatrick finally tops best-safety list; Saquon Barkley to 'pull a Le’Veon?’

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick had spent most the offseason so far picking up plenty of figurative silver medals in the ultimately meaningless realm of “Best Of” lists.

• In May, it was Pro Football Network that rated Fitzpatrick as the NFL’s second-best safety behind the Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James.

• Exactly one month later, Pro Football Focus’ list again had James at No. 1 and Fitzpatrick No. 2

• Two weeks ago, CBS compiled its list. Guess what its top two were? Yep – James first, Fitzpatrick second.

Finally, in a piece published Wednesday by ESPN, Fitzpatrick “won” a fictitious designation as the best safety in football.

In listing Fitzpatrick above runner-up James, ESPN relied on a survey of league executives, coaches, scouts and players – though its explanation indicates ESPN leaves itself latitude to modify the rankings if it so sees fit.

Author Jeremy Fowler’s write-up for Fitzpatrick’s lofty ranking:

Fitzpatrick is back on top after perhaps his most dominant season as a pro, once again rewarding Pittsburgh for the stellar trade it made with Miami four years ago.

His 28.2% ball hawk rate led the NFL, with 11 pass breakups and six interceptions on 39 targets as the nearest defender. Fitzpatrick’s ball-tracking skills are so good that he can intercept a pass and sell hot dogs at Gate B of Acrisure Stadium on the same play.

“Best in the game, and it’s not close,” an NFL personnel director said. “You have to keep him moving because if he’s stationary, coordinators can plan for him, but every single play, there’s that feeling of, where is he going to be? Post, slot, nickel, box. He’s capable, willing and able to handle all of that. He’s brilliant, works, studies, loves the game.”

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We did this 5 years ago …

Steelers fans well recall how their team’s 2018 season was derailed in large part by Le’Veon Bell sitting out the entire campaign because he refused to sign the franchise tag.

There hasn’t been an NFL player pull that move since. But a player at the same position as Bell with a local tie is apparently considering pulling something similar.

According to an ESPN report, former Penn State running back Saquon Barkley might not only refuse to report to the New York Giants’ training camp, but “availability for Week 1 will be in serious question if he doesn’t reach a long-term deal with the New York Giants by Monday.”

Monday at 4 p.m. is the deadline for a player who’s under the franchise tag to finalize a long-term deal. If none is signed by then, that player is obligated to play the upcoming season under the terms of the one-year franchise-tag value for his position, which in Barkley’s case is $10.1 million.

Or … not play the season at all, which is what Bell did in 2018.

NBC Sports citied a league source in reporting the Giants had offered Barkley a multi-year deal worth $13 million annually, while Barkley is seeking to match the compensation being given to San Francisco 49ers back Christian McCaffrey ($16 million per year). The report, though, said the Giants’ offer was pulled from the table once the deadline to apply the franchise tag was deployed earlier this spring.

Bell, you might recall, played the 2017 season under a franchise tag of $12.12 million, reporting to sign the tender a week before the season began. The next year, his teammates expected a similar timeline – but Bell never showed up to the Steelers’ facility, refusing to play under the $14.54 million second-year franchise tag.

Bell would be let go and signed a four-year, $52.5 million deal with the New York Jets, with whom he lasted less than two seasons.

Safe and secure

CBS Sports did its annual “Hot Seat Rankings” for college football coaches. Of the three major programs of most local interest, two were rated as “Safe and secure’ – but one, conversely, fell into the “Win or be fired” category.

CBS’ Dennis Dodd evaluated the relative job security of all FBS coaches and put them into six categories using a numerical rating from 0 (“Untouchable”) to 5 (“Win or be fired”). Up from the bottom are “Safe and secure” (1), “All good … for now” (2), “Pressure is mounting” (3) and “Start improving now” (4) leading into the “Win or be fired.”

Only three coaches nationally fall into that final ominous category – and one of them is West Virginia’s Neal Brown. Over four seasons at WVU, Brown is 22-25. He went 5-7 last year. Brown, who joins Indiana’s Tom Allen and New Mexico’s Danny Gonzales in “Win or be fired” territory, has one of the nation’s toughest schedules in 2023 — including games at Penn State and home to Pitt.

Those schools’ coaches have much less to worry about, at least in regards to their performance-related job security this fall. The Nittany Lions’ James Franklin and Panthers’ Pat Narduzzi each are among 42 coaches in the “Safe and secure” tier. Only 15 coaches were listed as “untouchable.”

Happier anniversary

Wednesday’s First Call featured a look back at a dark July 11 for Pittsburgh sports fans – the day Jaromir Jagr was traded.

Thursday’s look-back is to a much happier occasion: 26 years ago Wednesday, the Pirates’ Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon combined on a 10-inning no-hitter at Three Rivers Stadium.

OTD 7/12/97: #Pittsburgh’s Francisco Cordova (9ip) & Ricardo Rincon (1ip) combine for a no-hitter!

Mark Smith walks it off with an epic 3-run HR in the bottom of the 10th inning! #Pirates 3, #Astros 0. #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/OpE39RKJIf

— 1986-92 Pittsburgh Pirates (@1992Pirates) July 12, 2023

Cordova walked two and had 10 strikeouts over 121 pitches against the first-place Houston Astros, with whom the “Freak Show” Pirates tied for atop the NL Central with the win.

The Pirates managed just five singles and a walk through nine innings off of Chris Holt and Billy Wagner. But after Rincon stranded future “Operation Shutdown” Pirate Derek Bell at first following a one-out walk in the top of the 10th, the Pirates drew a pair of walks in the bottom of the inning off of John Hudek to set the stage for Mark Smith to drive an 0-1 pitch into left to send the crowd of 44,119 into a frenzy.

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