Where will Steelers Minkah Fitzpatrick rank among top players in 2022?

Minkah Fitzpatrick is clearly one of the better players on the team, but where does he rank among Pittsburgh Steelers players in 2022? 

Minkah Fitzpatrick without question is at the top of the Steelers players heading into the 2022 season due to two reasons. One will be his play-making ability on the football field and the other will be the new contract extension that he just received this past month. His new deal makes him now the highest-paid safety in the league earning him $18.4 million per season.

Since being traded to the Steelers back in September 2019, Fitzpatrick without doubt has been one of the top safeties in the league, arguably the very best safety. The Steelers secondary hasn’t been ranked below the Top 10 in the NFL, ranked Top 5 two out of these past three seasons, according to ESPN.

A big part of that has to do with Fitzpatrick who has been ranked as the 2nd best safety in football behind Denver Broncos’ safety Justin Simmons by ESPN’s Jeremy Flower.

With all of this being said, the question now lies, where does Fitzpatrick rank exactly among the top Steelers players of 2022?

Where does Minkah rank among the top Steelers?

According to ESPN Next Gen, Fitzpatrick has the third-best ball hawk rate in the league behind Harrison Smith (34.2%) and Devin McCourty (30.2 %).

Without question, Fitzpatrick will rank at number two on the top steelers players list due to being beat out of the number one spot by his teammate Steelers All-Pro & Pro Bowl linebacker T.J Watt. Watt just came off a career season-high 22.5 sacks, along with winning AP Defensive Player of the Year award.

What to expect this year from Fitzpatrick?

Fitzpatrick didn’t seem to wow anyone’s eyes last season due to his target rating decreasing from the three previous seasons.

Being ranked 51 on the Top 100 list of the best NFL players after the 2020 season, to not being ranked on the list at all, you can rest assured that Fitzpatrick is not pleased with being overlooked by his peers in the NFL as being one of the best players in the league.

According to the NFL Top 100 list of 2021-2022, Fitzpatrick is not a better safety than Justin Simmons (Denver Broncos) who made it at 81, Quandre Diggs (Seattle Seahawks) who made it at 72, Tyrann Mathieu (New Orleans Saints) 70, Buddha Baker (Arizona Cardinals) 66, and the list goes on.

Fitzpatrick is ticked off and it doesn’t look good for opposing offenses this season as he should be extra motivated to be more in the backfield this season rather than playing on the line due to reasonings of what many are calling an “upgraded and improved” Steelers defensive line.

Wide receivers, tight ends, you better look out! Steeler Nation can rest assured that they can indefinitely expect Fitzpatrick to have what many will say is a “bounce back year” this season.