Steelers like Minkah Fitzpatrick “right where he is at free safety”

[Steely McBeam]

Getty Images

The trade that sent Minkah Fitzpatrick from Miami to Pittsburgh last season worked out well for the Steelers as Fitzpatrick played free safety at an elite level over the course of the year.

Fitzpatrick had not been tethered to that spot with the Dolphins, which led to some complaints about how he was used and didn’t result in the same kind of production. While that approach was a success, Fitzpatrick said early in the offseason that he could see going back to being “a moving piece on the chessboard” in 2020.

That possibility came up when defensive backs coach Tom Bradley met with reporters via video conference on Monday. Bradley said that the team wants to have Fitzpatrick and all their players in position to succeed, but that “we like him right where he is at free safety.”

“We do move him around,” Bradley said, via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Formations are going to dictate a lot of different things we do with him. One of the things you always try to do in football is get your guys in the position that they do their best things. One of the things he does where he is really good is playing center field and being around the ball and doing all those things. We do have the capability to move him and put him in different spots. A lot of times formations will dictate that — motions, adjustments. But we would like to keep him in center field.”

Fitzpatrick has set a goal of surpassing the five interceptions he notched last year and that would work out well for the Steelers whether he gets them in center field or anywhere else.