Pittsburgh Steelers urged to trade three-time All-Pro

The Pittsburgh Steelers have had the NFL’s most expensive defense for three years in a row. They’re tracking to extend that to a fourth year, barring major changes.

They have five defenders who are set to have a cap hit of more than $15 million next season and zero offensive players with a cap hit north of Pat Freiermuth’s $12.8 million.

T.J. Watt leads the way at $30.4 million, but he’s a four-time All-Pro who’s on track to reach the Hall of Fame. The next most expensive Steelers player is safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, a three-time All-Pro who has a cap hit of $22.3 million next season. Is that too much for a player who forced just two turnovers this past season?

Blockbuster Minkah Fitzpatrick trade from Pittsburgh Steelers coming?

Defense has long been the calling card for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s been that way for Mike Tomlin’s entire 18-year tenure in Pittsburgh. That won’t change in 2025 either.

Yet, the Steelers do need to find ways to move around some money to help improve an offense that finished 16th in scoring, even after failing to reach 20 points in any of their five games, which were all losses, by the way.

One potential solution, as The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo writes, would be to execute a blockbuster trade involving Minkah Fitzpatrick.

“If the Steelers are going to make a significant change to break up the defense, the way to do it is probably with a blockbuster trade involving Fitzpatrick. The 28-year-old safety drew his fifth Pro Bowl selection this year, but after intercepting 17 passes over his first four seasons with the Steelers, he’s picked off just one in the past two seasons combined. While his defenders will say he’s a deterrent in the middle of the field, the Steelers have also finished in the bottom half of the league in passing defense in each of the past three seasons, including this season when they gave up the eighth-most passing yards.”
The Athletic on Minkah Fitzpatrick trade

In other words, while Fitzpatrick was a dynamite addition in 2019, does he still justify his paycheck? Perhaps more importantly, would the benefit of trading him outweigh the cost of keeping him on the roster?

Just imagine what type of trade return an elite player of his caliber could fetch on the open market. For a Steelers team that needs to figure out how to return to advancing past the first round of the NFL Playoffs, they may have to think outside the box, and trading Fitzpatrick certainly qualifies.