Minkah Fitzpatrick heads to adopted home to face former team when Steelers play Dolphins

Minkah Fitzpatrick appreciated south Florida enough that he made it his permanent offseason home, even if he lasted less than 17 months on the roster of south Florida’s NFL team.

But while Fitzpatrick surely has racked up the miles flying back and forth from Pittsburgh to that area over the past three years, Saturday will be the first time the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers roster and coaching staff accompanies him.

Thirty-seven months after one of the biggest in-season trades in Steelers history, Fitzpatrick will play as a visitor at Hard Rock Stadium for the first time when the Steelers face his former team, the Miami Dolphins, at 8:20 p.m. Sunday.

“I think there will be (emotion),” Fitzpatrick said Wednesday morning before practice at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “My first NFL team … definitely will be nostalgic, for sure.”

The No. 11 overall pick in 2018, Fitzpatrick was dealt to the Steelers on Sept. 16, 2019, in a trade that sent the Steelers’ 2020 first-round pick to Miami. It was the first time in more than five decades the Steelers traded their first-round pick, but Fitzpatrick seemed to justify that compensation by making first-team AP All-Pro each of his first two seasons with the Steelers.

In 2019, Fitzpatrick had five interceptions, two fumble recoveries, two touchdown returns, a forced fumble and nine passes defended.

“I think it was a combination of things,” Fitzpatrick said Wednesday in recalling that immediate success. “It was I got here (midseason). It was I didn’t really even know the playbook. I was just back there playing and playing ball. Coach (Mike Tomlin) allowed me to do that, and then to pair that with the (pass) rush that we had and the pressure we were putting on the quarterback, it forced (opponents) to put the ball in the air (perilously) and let me go up and get it.”

Minkah Fitzpatrick on how the trade from the Dolphins to the Steelers 37 months ago affected the trajectory of his career pic.twitter.com/lJDCaEH2FA

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) October 19, 2022

The trust Tomlin showed in Fitzpatrick in affording him such freedoms in his play had been a few years in the making.

A two-time All American at Alabama and the 2017 Bednarik Award winner as college football’s best defensive player, Fitzpatrick was long known as a future first-round pick and as the likely top safety in the 2018 draft.

The Steelers were in dire need of a safety that year, but in coming off a 13-3 season knew they were slotted well past when Fitzpatrick figured to be picked.

“But it didn’t stop me from going to Tuscaloosa twice that year and kind of getting to know him,” Tomlin said this week. “That probably helped us in terms of making a quick decision about being interested in him (via trade).”

Fitzpatrick recalled his first interaction during the draft process. It wasn’t lengthy, but it made an impression.

“When I met Coach T, I remember coming back and telling my family that he was the coach that I (most) liked talking to,” Fitzpatrick said. “It was a brief conversation, but it was just the way he carried himself, you could tell he was a coach you would enjoy playing for.”

Fitzpatrick had “no clue” at that point that he would indeed get his chance to play for Tomlin — via an unlikely route. Word leaked that the then-winless Dolphins were shopping Fitzpatrick to help jump-start their rebuild, but when news broke it was the Steelers who won the bidding, it was a surprise.

The trade was agreed to late Monday night of Week 3, announced early the next morning and Fitzpatrick took part in his first practice the next day. Four days later, he was on the West Coast intercepting a pass and forcing a fumble during a game against a San Francisco 49ers team that ultimately would make the Super Bowl.

“Obviously, it was a big, big shift going from one team to another,” Fitzpatrick said. “After being drafted in the first round, it’s not common that you get traded the following year. I had to make decisions and lock in and really try to turn things around.”

Safe to say the Steelers were pleased with how Fitzpatrick assimilated. He has played 99% of the Steelers’ defensive snaps in the 51 games he has played in the three years since, and this past summer the Steelers rewarded him with a five-year contract that averages $18.4 million per season.

“He’s just a quality player through and through on all levels,” Tomlin said. “He’s a professional. He can make plays anywhere you put him. He loves football. He’s a good teammate.”

Note: After missing this past Sunday’s game because of injury, Fitzpatrick on Wednesday termed his ailing knee as “good” and said he would be able to play Sunday.

Hey, Steelers Nation, get the latest news about the Pittsburgh Steelers here.