Just a few short years ago, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was largely considered the best in the game at the position.
The perennial All-Pro and Pro Bowler was a takeaway artist, wreaking havoc on opposing offenses week after week.
Since then, Fitzpatrick has taken a downturn in his career, struggling to create turnovers and those impactful moments on the field. Some of it has been his fault, while much of it has seemingly been the scheme and the usage of the veteran safety from an alignment and responsibility aspect.
Now, Fitzpatrick has more question about him than answers, which has him outside of the top 15 at the safety position in Pro Football Focus’ rankings ahead of the season.
Fitzpatrick landed at No. 16, behind the likes of New Orleans’ Justin Reid and Philadelphia’s Reed Blankenship.
“Once arguably the best safety in the NFL, Fitzpatrick has taken a back seat to other players in Pittsburgh’s defense,” PFF’s Zoltan Buday writes. “The Alabama product’s 65.2 PFF overall grade in 2024 was his lowest since 2021 and ranked only 44th among safeties.
“Fitzpatrick recorded six interceptions and broke up an additional six passes in 2022 alone, but over the past two seasons, he recorded just one interception and broke up six passes.”
Things have really fallen off for Fitzpatrick from a production standpoint. He remains a tackling machine, having recorded 96 stops last season. He went 25 games without an interception before finally gettiong one late last season against the Baltimore Ravens, picking off Lamar Jackson to break the streak.
Since 2022 he’s dealt with injuries to his knee, groin and hand, which have slowed him down and caused him to miss some games, too. But when on the field he hasn’t been his usual game-changing self.
Communication has been an issue in recent years, too, something Fitzpatrick is working diligently to try and fix. But in the process, he’s dropped well out of the conversation of the best safeties in the NFL. Hopefully the 2025 season is a bounce back for the former star.
He has a strong running mate next to him to help.
DeShon Elliott, who signed as a free agent ahead of the 2024 season, checked in at No. 29 overall in the safety rankings.
“Elliott constructed his best season yet in 2024, recording a 70.0-plus PFF overall grade for the first time in his career. His 71.1 mark ranked 27th at the position and actually beat out Minkah Fitzpatrick,” Buday writes. “Elliott’s 83.9 PFF run-defense grade this past season was also a top-10 mark.”
In his first season with the Steelers, Elliott’s impact was rather impressive. He was an outstanding tackler, one who lived around the line of scrimmage and consistently got guys on the ground.
Based on charting from Steelers Depot, Elliott had just one missed tackle last season, putting up the best missed tackles rate that has been charted under Steelers Depot at 0.8%.
Elliott finished the season with 108 tackles, one interception, four tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and six passes defensed. He was a massive part of the Steelers’ defensive success, especially early in the season, but when he missed time due to an injury the defense felt his absence in a big way.
Entering the 2025 season, more is expected of Elliott. He’s a good player and a great complementary piece to Fitzpatrick.
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