Communication issues were a huge problem for the Steelers defense last season
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard about the Steelers’ blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins in which they acquired DB Jalen Ramsey and TE Jonnu Smith. Still, the trade came at the expense of Minkah Fitzpatrick, a stalwart in the Steelers’ secondary for the past six seasons.
Ironically, Fitzpatrick was acquired from the Dolphins in 2019.
There’s been scuttlebutt that Fitzpatrick rubbed his teammates the wrong way last season after S DeShon Elliott, OLB Alex Highsmith, and most notably DE Cam Heyward, discussed their displeasure after a week 17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs – their third loss in 11 days.
“When 10 guys do their job and one guy doesn’t, we are screwed” – said the Steelers defensive captain.
Elliott chimed in with some frustration as well.
“First off, guys can’t be [expletive] wide open. That’s the first thing. Just do your job,” Elliott told reporters, via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Christopher Carter. “I thought we were communicating, [but] guys weren’t doing their frickin’ job.”
Today, multiple members of the Steelers media, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo, alluded to Fitzpatrick potentially being part of those problems.
Minkah Fitzpatrick was set to count almost $23 million against the cap this year and had not produced to the level he did from 2019-2022. Don’t discount the communication and chemistry issues that were present for much of last season. The secondary was in disarray in Dec and Jan.
— Ray Fittipaldo (@rayfitt1) June 30, 2025
Nobody named names, but when guys ON THE TEAM were talking about 10 guys doing one thing & one guy not doing his job, they were talking about Minkah. This move is a result of that. #Steelers
— David Todd (@DavidMTodd) June 30, 2025
Albeit short but sweet, there was a Steeler who had Fitzpatrick’s back today – linebacker Patrick Queen. In a response on X following a post wishing him well, a fan asked if it was Minkah who was out of position, and Queen abruptly shut it down:
It was him that was out of position wasn’t it?
— Tez (@200KBondIPop) June 30, 2025
No
— (@Patrickqueen_) June 30, 2025
This leads me to believe that Queen wanted to get ahead of the potential fallout of this trade. It’s hard not to trust someone in those meetings over others close to the situation, but for now, this will remain a mystery. There were murmurs that the player Elliott and Highsmith, among others, were referring to was Cam Sutton – who struggled in his return to Pittsburgh.
Regardless, the Steelers defense fell apart at the end of last season, and they will rely on Ramsey, among others, to fix the leaks.