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Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has been watching the enemy.
When prompted as to what safeties he admires, studies and would like to emulate, Fitzpatrick first mentioned former Ravens safety, Ed Reed.
“Ed Reed was a guy I really liked,” Fitzpatrick said to the media on Monday. “This offseason I broke down a lot of his film. He was an athlete, but also was an intellectual when it came to the game. He did a lot of things to bait quarterbacks. He did a lot of things to learn the game, and with that, he was able to make plays that a normal safety wouldn’t be able to make.”
Fitzpatrick also mentioned retired Eagle Brian Dawkins and current Lion Glover Quinn.
All offseason, Fitzpatrick has been giving props to Reed and Dawkins. But he hasn’t forgotten about Troy Polamalu (who we know is the best of them all).
In a recent Steelers Nation Unite Huddle, Fitzpatrick said he grew up watching the likes of the All-Pro safeties.
The New Jersey native grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan and admired Dawkins’s on-field presence. “I love watching Dawkins play football,” Fitzpatrick confessed. “He was just a ballhawk. He flew around the field all the time.”
“Obviously, the other legends, Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed,” he added. “You just saw them making plays week-to-week. I was like, ‘I want to be doing what they’re doing one day’. Those are guys that, even to this day, I study and watch their film and listen to them whenever they speak about football because they just have so much knowledge of the game.”
Each had their phenomenal careers, which rightfully earned them spots in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Defensive backs will revere Polamalu’s career for generations. He was like a pinball flying around on the field and posted 32 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles, 12 sacks and 783 tackles (56 for loss) and 12 QB hits in 12 seasons.
We’re all too familiar with Reed and what he brought to the field every game. He corralled a jaw-dropping 64 interceptions along with 11 forced fumbles, six sacks, 646 tackles (34 for loss), and two QB hits over 13 seasons.
Dawkins amassed 37 interceptions, 36 forced fumbles, 26 sacks, 17 QB hits and 1,147 tackles (59 for loss) in a career that spanned 16 years.
In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Dawkins spoke highly of Fitzpatrick.
“I always called myself a freelance safety,” Dawkins told Bleacher Report. “That’s why I love guys who have that ability to be a chess piece. Checkers, you can only move from one slot to the next. Certain chess pieces can move across the board. You can use them in so many different ways. So when you think about Mink? Chess piece. All-day long, he’s a chess piece — if you have a coordinator who understands that.”
Polamalu, Reed and Dawkins are three of the best safeties ever to play the game. As far as players to emulate and desire to live up to, that trio of Hall of Famers is as good as you get.
All stats are courtesy of Pro Football Reference
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