PITTSBURGH — His impact was obvious, and it came almost immediately after he arrived.
Two games into the 2019 season — with Ben Roethlisberger sidelined for the season and the franchise at a crossroads — the Steelers gave up a package that included a first-round pick to acquire safety Minkah Fitzpatrick from the Miami Dolphins. Less than 10 minutes into his Pittsburgh debut, Fitzpatrick snatched a deflected Jimmy Garappolo pass for his first takeaway with his new team. Later, Fitzpatrick put a big hit on a San Francisco 49ers ball carrier to force his second turnover of the game.
The electrifying debut opened the floodgates for a season of splash. During his first year in Pittsburgh, Fitzpatrick had a hand in a whopping 10 turnovers in 14 games (five interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries). At the time, the acquisition felt like a slam-dunk. In an effort to rebuild their defense and give Roethlisberger one or two more shots to make a run before he retired, the Steelers had spent nine of 10 first-round picks on defense, beginning with Cameron Heyward in 2011 and ending with the 2020 first-round pick the Steelers gave up to acquire Fitzpatrick. As that 2019 defense led the league in turnovers forced (38) and held opponents to 18.9 points per game (fifth-fewest), they nearly did enough to drag a Duck Hodges-led offense to the playoffs. That season felt like a springboard. It was easy to imagine: What could this defense accomplish if it was supported by even average QB play?
On Monday night, when Fitzpatrick returns to Pittsburgh for the first time since a stunning offseason trade shipped him back to Miami, it won’t be a joyful reunion with his old buddies. Instead, it should serve as a reminder of a wasted chapter for the Steelers defense. When Pittsburgh acquired Fitzpatrick in 2019, he represented the missing piece to complete a near-championship-caliber defense. The trade that sent him back to Miami was more telling. It represented the first domino falling, as that once-dominant defense risks falling apart entirely without accomplishing anything in the playoffs.
“The only reason why it’s a big week this week is because we have a game,” Fitzpatrick told reporters in Miami. “And we got to win it.”
Fitzpatrick was 22 years old and in his second NFL season when he became a Steeler. Outside linebacker T.J. Watt was 24 years old and still on his rookie deal. The ageless Heyward had only just turned 30. They were a formidable trio. During the six-year span from 2019 to 2024, the Steelers forced the most turnovers (170), registered the most sacks (292), produced the highest defensive EPA/play (0.07) and allowed the fifth-fewest points per game (20.3). Individually, the results were similar, as all three stars enjoyed some of the best years of their careers.
Watt was selected to the Pro Bowl in all six of those seasons, led the NFL in sacks three times (2020, 2021 and 2023) and won his only NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award (2021) after tying Michael Strahan’s official record of 22.5 sacks. Heyward was named to the Pro Bowl in five of those six seasons and earned All-Pro accolades twice, as he beat back Father Time better than just about any other defensive lineman. Fitzpatrick was selected to five Pro Bowls and named an All-Pro three times during that span. He intercepted 18 passes as a Steeler, including a league-high six in 2022.
“Minkah is one of my favorite guys,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said this week. “He was unbelievable. He’s really smart, really tough, makes the guys around him better, really good communicator, all good things. I mean, just can’t say enough good things.”
But for all they accomplished individually and collectively in the regular season, they failed to win a single playoff game together. Often, the story was similar. The defense regularly propped up a rotating cast of subpar QBs like Hodges, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. During those six seasons, the Steelers finished with a top-10 scoring defense five times, including a top-5 defense twice. However, their inability to find an answer at quarterback, coupled with no-show performances from the defense in the playoffs, started to close this window.
A defense that came close to dominating at times early in Fitzpatrick’s tenure in Pittsburgh began to show cracks and warts. Over Fitzpatrick’s final seasons in Pittsburgh, his paycheck outweighed his production. After intercepting 17 passes over his first four seasons, Fitzpatrick intercepted just one in 2023 and 2024 combined. As he neared 30, Fitzpatrick became replaceable. (While moving on from Fitzpatrick while he still had value was a sound business decision, it is a bit curious that the Steelers chose to get even older by acquiring the now-31-year-old Jalen Ramsey).
Fitzpatrick left Pittsburgh without a playoff win, Watt has also never won a playoff game. Heyward has been active and in uniform for only one playoff win in his career. How much longer do they have?
Last year, even at 35 years old, Heyward was still one of the best players at his position. He finished the 2024 regular season tied for sixth in sacks among interior defensive linemen (eight), fourth in pressures (56, per TruMedia) and fourth in tackles for loss (12). This year, Heyward still has the second-most tackles among interior defensive linemen (57), but he’s tallied only 1.5 sacks and five tackles for loss — well off this pace from last year. At 36 years old, Heyward has just one more year remaining on his contract.
Watt — one of the best defensive players of the last decade — is out indefinitely due to a collapsed lung suffered last week during a dry-needling treatment at the team facility, according to his brother J.J. Even before that, T.J. was having a bit of a down year and could be showing signs that the best is behind him. His production has dipped in a noticeable way, as he’s tallied just seven sacks — the only time in his career that Watt failed to reach double-digit sacks in a year in which he played at least 11 games was 2017. Perhaps more telling, Watt’s super power was his quick-twitch speed rush, as he was regularly one of the fastest players off the ball. However, according to NFL’s NextGen Stats, he could be declining in this area. His get-off was 0.75 seconds in 2022. It’s gotten slower in every year since, from 0.79 in 2023, to 0.83 in 2024 and now 0.87 in 2025.
It’s fair to wonder how much longer Heyward and Watt can play at a high level. It’s also fair to wonder if their Steelers tenures will end the same way Fitzpatrick’s did: with plenty of individual success in the regular season, but nothing to show for it in terms of postseason wins.
