This offseason has been anything but normal for the Pittsburgh Steelers . A rare blockbuster player-for-player trade set the NFL world ablaze last week as the team made another splash move to acquire Jalen Ramsey in a trade that jettisoned long-time defensive pillar Minkah Fitzpatrick . Such a move has brought about plenty of conversation about whether this is an all-in sort of tactic from what is typically a risk-averse organization. Time will tell. But for now, figuring out how Teryl Austin and Mike Tomlin will construct their new-look defense is a fascinating exercise worth exploring.
So, why did the Steelers make this trade? We know that the league traditionally values the cornerback position far more heavily than the safety spot. But to me, the answer that makes the most sense is that Pittsburgh views Ramsey as a more flexible chess piece, given his rare ability to both cover different body types across the field, be a force player in the run game, and even sprinkle in some splash as a blitzer. Even at 30 years old, his skill set is unique and a glove-like fit for the modern NFL. Can this coaching staff maximize that? We'll see.
On the flip side, there are some faulty narratives floating around about Fitzpatrick's play over the past two seasons. Even without the splash plays in the turnover bucket, he was still an objectively good player that provided value on what has been a good defense. A common frustration among Steelers fans has been the amount of snaps that he spent off the broadcast angle as a center fielder in their middle field closed defensive structures. That's understandable, but whether a valid complaint or not, that was their vision of maximizing his skill set. Now, as one iteration of football comes to a close, a new reality is set to begin: a world without Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick at minicamp on June 11, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Today, we're going to take a look at one very specific role that he held within the Steelers defense as the hook/curl defender. Pittsburgh liked to deploy him in this area on third downs specifically, and his ability to perform well in this role was one of the reasons that their unit finished second in third-down percentage in 2024. Let's look at a few examples of this concept.
This is a very basic example of the Steelers going from 2-to-1 at the start of the snap with Fitzpatrick rolling down to the second level of the defense. His landmark is about 12 yards just outside the hash. From there, he's playing with zone eyes and vision on the quarterback. The technique is pretty straightforward from there; if the quarterback is looking away from him towards the middle, he melts inside accordingly.
He's able to blanket the deep sit route, forcing the quarterback to hold on to the ball, and it results in a coverage sack for Alex Highsmith . Because of their belief in their talent up front, the Steelers rushed four defenders on 84% of their third downs last season, but there will always be instances where coverage has to pick up the slack.
The next example comes against the Ravens, who are running a common Cover 3 beater often referred to as "Ocean." The quarterback reads this inside-out, and because he's looking outside Fitzpatrick, his responsibility is to shuffle outside the hash to be ready to break on the ball. Over the course of time, defenders can get reputations around the league, both good and bad. From the end zone angle, you'll see the double-clutch, which is effectively a sign of respect to his presence up the seam. This play results in a scramble drill turned prayer down the field, with the defense getting off the field on third down against the league's best offense. These turn-downs aren't a statistic that is measured like interceptions, stops, or forced incompletions, but having strong enough hook play to erase these beaters is crucial nonetheless.
The Steelers utilized disguised coverage rotations on just under 20% of their snaps last season, the third-lowest mark in the league, but they had a few cool wrinkles that were made possible by Fitzpatrick. He had the range to come from the opposite deep half of the field down to the strong-side hook window, which is shown in the first clip.
In recent years, the Steelers changeup on defense has been their increased usage of non-traditional Tampa-2 coverages. In the second clip, you'll see an example of Fitzpatrick coming down to shut down the option route over the middle of the field. Both of these play into the "illusion of space" philosophy and encourage teams to throw short of the sticks, but that only works if you have strong tacklers in the secondary.
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in a game against the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 8, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
So, will Pittsburgh miss Fitzpatrick in the post? Yes. But as the value of that specific role has decreased in today's league, it's foolish to hand-wave the other stuff that he was tasked with in this scheme.
This defense is going to look different in 2025, with more unpredictability leading to better results against the top offenses in the AFC. A slight decrease in Cover 3 usage is possible but it's hard to envision them swaying too far away from their identity after finishing 10th in usage and 11th in EPA/play on which plays just a year ago. Someone will have to hold down the fort in this role this upcoming fall. The question is who? That's something that will be worth keeping an eye on as training camp approaches next month.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Bell: How Will Steelers Replace Minkah Fitzpatrick?
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