What I remember most about Minkah Fitzpatrick’s 2021 season wasn’t splash plays or interceptions. What I remember most are the number of tackles he had to make, 124 in total, an unacceptable number for a safety. None of it was his fault but behind a porous front seven, Fitzpatrick was always on clean-up crew. He was responsible for preventing good gains by opposing offenses from becoming great ones, making a ton of open-field and downfield tackles.
To quantify things, Fitzpatrick led the NFL with 21 total tackles on plays that gained 20+ yards. Again, not blaming him. He got forced into that situation and bailed Pittsburgh’s defense out.