DALLAS — Alabama Crimson Tide safety Minkah Fitzpatrick isn’t good at one thing. Fitzpatrick can be used in a variety of ways which will make teams want to select him in the top ten. Defensive coordinators want him and offensive coordinators will fear him.
Fitzpatrick has the speed to become the next pick six specialist. When he gets an interception, he is a threat to score every time. There is already discussion that Fitzpatrick is more versatile than Jamal Adams according to NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein. Fitzpatrick may not bring much culture change however.
This draft features a multitude of outstanding offensive threats. There are teams that can use an upgrade on defense to counter the high-octane offenses looking to add more raw talent to their rosters. Fitzpatrick has blanket coverage ability to go with his speed. He can also be useful in blitz packages and can cover receivers on short patterns such as slants and crossing routes.
Defensive backs that have the old school mentality of unleashing big hits should also be considered highly valuable. Fitzpatrick can unleash a powerful enough hit to take a quarterback from the sideline to several feet past the bench. That isn’t just a skill, that’s a mindset that he is willing to punish quarterbacks with ferocious big hits. It’s more than a mere physical talent as it shows Fitzpatrick knows how to play mind games against quarterbacks.
He doesn’t have many weaknesses. Fitzpatrick needs to be more consistent with interceptions since he has the speed to score off of turnovers. There were a lot of drops that could have easily been turnovers. Fitzpatrick needs to improve his concentration so he avoids looking downfield before hauling in interceptions.
At this time, Fitzpatrick is a top ten projection. He should be selected no lower than the 15th overall pick.