Steelers 2-a-days: Dez Fitzpatrick added to WR room; Minkah Fitzpatrick on a Hall of Fame track

Editor’s note: From the end of minicamp through the day the team reports to training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2023 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly-alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between June 16 and July 26. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

WR DEZ FITZPATRICK

Experience: Five NFL regular-season games over the past two years

Contract status: $870,000 cap hit in 2023 if he makes the team

2023 outlook: Fitzpatrick joined the Steelers in January after two lackluster seasons with the Tennessee Titans, who had made him a fourth-round pick in 2021. Fitzpatrick’s career NFL stat line is meager: five catches for 49 yards and a touchdown in five games. But in college he showed big-play ability by way of a 16.8 yards-per-catch average — including 19.4 during his senior 2020 season that featured two touchdowns of 70-plus yards.

Fitzpatrick has good size (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) and decent speed (a reported 4.49 seconds in the 40-yard dash) plus a résumé that included 20 touchdowns in college. But he didn’t even make the Titans’ initial 53-man roster as a rookie — a rarity for someone drafted as high as he was.

Still, Fitzpatrick was worthy of the low-risk flier as one of 13 wide receivers on the camp roster. An outside receiver on a team that could use one who specializes in the slot, Fitzpatrick faces long odds to make the active roster but with a good preseason is a good practice-squad candidate.

Joe Burrow’s first TD of 2022 is to Minkah Fitzpatrick pic.twitter.com/rO5PaipAGx

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 11, 2022

S MINKAH FITZPATRICK

Experience: 6^th NFL season

Contract status: $7.94 million cap hit in 2023, signed through 2026

2023 outlook: A first-team AP NFL All Pro in three of his four seasons with the Steelers, Fitzpatrick seems well on track to an eventual Hall of Fame induction if he can sustain his play for a few more years. That’s perfectly reasonable considering he is only yet 26 years old.

Fitzpatrick just might seem older than that because of his play that is both steady and reliable while also providing plenty of “splash” and big plays. Last season might have been Fitzpatrick’s best — he tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with six, including a “pick six” on the Steelers’ first defensive snap of the season and two others that sealed late-season victories. It was just further proof of Fitzpatrick’s proverbial nose for the ball — in 61 games with the Steelers, he’s been part of 24 turnovers (17 interceptions, three forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries), scored four touchdowns and been credited with 38 passes defended. He even blocked an overtime field goal attempt that played a major role in earning the Steelers their first win last season.

Fitzpatrick has been durable, too — he’s missed only three of 66 possible games for the Steelers (including playoffs) and has played 99% of their defensive snaps in the games he’s played in.

It all adds up to solid reasoning for the $73.6 million contract the Steelers gave him last summer that ties Fitzpatrick to the team through 2026. He will still only be 29 when that season starts and he’s eligible for another contract — one he’ll be sure to get if he maintains his level of play.

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