'If it ain't broke, don't fix it': Minkah Fitzpatrick anticipates same role with Steelers in 2021

Jun. 8—With two starters departing via free agency and some youth injected into the position over the past 14 months, there is the potential for changes in the Pittsburgh Steelers' secondary.

Not, though, for its most decorated player.

Minkah Fitzpatrick doesn't foresee any tweaks to the role he's filled for the Steelers over the past two seasons.

"I don't think too much is going to change," Fitzpatrick said during a video conference call with media Tuesday. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Fitzpatrick has been far from "broke" since arriving in Pittsburgh via a September 2019 trade. He's been named first-team AP All Pro both seasons while serving as the Steelers free safety.

But with nickelback Mike Hilton and outside corner Steven Nelson gone from the teams of the past two seasons, there is a school of thought that the Steelers might get creative in assembling their secondary. Versatility with moving chess pieces, the thinking goes, could become the norm.

Fitzpatrick's background and resume suggests he could be best suited for that, too. When he entered the NFL as a top-10 draft pick out of Alabama, teams saw a variety of positional fits from slot corner to deep safety to an in-the-box DB.

To hear Fitzpatrick tell it, while he might not be changing positions, there could be moving pieces involving Steelers secondary mates such as Cameron Sutton or Terrell Edmunds or James Pierre.

"We're are still figuring out what we're going to do," Fitzpatrick said. "It's still early. Come Week 1 against Buffalo, we're going to have it figured out."

That Sept. 12 game at the Bills will be the first Fitzpatrick plays in which he is under contract for 2022. The Steelers this spring exercised their fifth-year option on him for $10.6 million.

As a two-time All Pro, official word of the Steelers' decision was all but a foregone conclusion. But Fitzpatrick still said he "appreciated" the gesture.

"It guarantees me another year in Pittsburgh, a great team and a great organization," he said. "So it's a sigh of relief. You don't have to worry about, 'What if? What if?' "

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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .