The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in the same week that they placed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on injured reserve last season. In other words, the third-year safety has never gotten the opportunity to watch him work up close and personal before. But anybody who’s grown up in the past 15 years with football has watched the man play games. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, after all.
With his injury in the middle of Week Two, most accepted the seemingly inevitable reality that the Steelers’ season was lost. The front office didn’t take that approach, and the acquisition of Fitzpatrick was a part of that.