Minkah Fitzpatrick elevates his leadership to match his production for Steelers defense

Try as he might, Grady Brown missed out on the opportunity to coach Minkah Fitzpatrick six years ago. In the time that’s passed since, Fitzpatrick has grown from a New Jersey kid into a college All-American all the way to standout safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“It’s cool for me to have seen Minkah and have had him in camp as a 17-year-old going into his senior year of high school,” said Brown, who’s in his first season as the Steelers’ secondary coach, “and then getting here now and seeing him at 24 and just saying, ‘Wow, he’s exactly who I thought he would be when he was 18 years old.’”

What that is is a two-time AP NFL All Pro who’s increasingly emerging as one of the faces of the Steelers defense at present and — perhaps — for years into the future.

Brown was in the midst of making his name as a renowned recruiter while he served as cornerbacks coach at the University of South Carolina from 2012-15. But one of the big fish he couldn’t reel in was a lean, swift and smooth defensive back from Jersey City, N.J., who’d ultimately — like seemingly every five-star prospect — enroll at the University of Alabama.

Three College Football Playoff title game appearances, two championship rings and a Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player later, Fitzpatrick was the apple of coach Mike Tomlin’s eye in the 2018 draft. But the safety-needy Steelers had no chance of Fitzpatrick falling to them at pick No. 28.

Like Brown, Tomlin ultimately, too, would get his man — albeit at the cost of a first-round pick sent to the Miami Dolphins in September 2019.

It’s turned out a small price to pay for a player that’s backended a defense that’s ranked in the top five in total yards, points allowed and passing defense during each of his two seasons with the Steelers.

“I expect a lot of him; he’s a coach on the dadgum field,” defensive coordinator Keith Butler said of Fitzpatrick. “He knows a lot about football.”

That innate knowledge of football combined with the stature of being a two-time All Pro and a four-year veteran in his third season on the Steelers should lead to Fitzpatrick carrying out a more visible and vocal leadership role in 2021.

Fitzpatrick’s statistical bona fides — his 13 takeaways rank second among all NFL defensive players since he joined the Steelers — already have him as a focal point of opposing offensive coordinators’ game plans.

Fitzpatrick’s physical placing in the Steelers’ defense — at the back end as the free safety — have him in literal position to be a focal point among the unit.

But despite having everything a team could want in a leader — the football IQ, the resume, the respect of his teammates — Fitzpatrick moreso blended into the background of the Steelers’ locker room over his first two seasons.

An exodus of strong veteran voices in recent months, though, has changed that. With Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Alejandro Villanueva, Vince Williams, Bud Dupree, Mike Hilton and Steven Nelson among those no longer on the roster, there’s something of a vacuum in leadership — one that Fitzpatrick has taken it upon himself to help fill.

“Minkah is talking a little bit more,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said with a sly grin, “which is surprising.”

Fitzpatrick said Tomlin challenged him over the offseason to do just that.

“He expressed to me he wanted me to be more vocal, not just on the field but in the locker room, in the weight room, and also on the field.”

. @MarkMaddenX: Minkah Fitzpatrick’s game isn’t broken, so #Steelers need not fix it https://t.co/HGXdGWB5LL

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) June 2, 2020

Still just 24 years old, Fitzpatrick recognizes he’s ascended to a point in his career to where “it’s time to start … sharing my wisdom.”

Why?

“Because I have a lot of experience,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think I can impart a lot of my wisdom on younger guys, even older guys. I’m very confident in what I do, very confident in my abilities. I prepare really well. I think I handle myself like a professional. I think guys see that. It’s been demanded from me; a lot of young guys are coming to me and asking me questions and picking my brain. I have a responsibility to talk to them and take them in and take them under my wing.”

Butler said he’s noticed that from Fitzpatrick so far in 2021 over the organized team activities, minicamp and first few weeks of training camp. Butler said Fitzpatrick has become one of the defense’s “big mouths,” a role formerly taken on, in part, by the likes of Williams and Dupree.

Where Butler draws the line, though, is at tasking Fitzpatrick with calling the defensive signals. For the Steelers, that’s long been the domain of one of the inside linebackers — a strategy owed to that they are, quite literally, in the middle of the defense, and so their voice can literally best be heard.

“I don’t blame him,” Butler said of Fitzpatrick seeking to relay the calls. “I wanted to, too, when I was playing. All of them. A smart guy should always want to do that.”

Even if it was all for naught, that the quiet-by-nature Fitzpatrick has been so eager in seeking out a vocal role is something of a paradigm shift for a Steelers’ defense expected to remain among the NFL’s best this season.

“He’s a good player for us,” Butler said of Fitzpatrick. “We’re glad we have him. We’re glad, mentally, with he’s where he’s at because it always helps when you’ve got good smart football players.”

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