Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick didn’t have his usual season in 2023.
The former Alabama All-American missed four November games with a hamstring injury and the final three of the regular season after he had missed three games in his NFL career before the 2023 campaign.
And after tying for the NFL lead with six interceptions in 2022, Fitzpatrick didn’t have any in 2023.
But that didn’t prevent his peers from including him in “The Top 100 NFL Players of 2024.”
The NFL Network continued to unveil its 14th annual poll of NFL players by releasing on Tuesday the No. 71 through No. 80 finishers in the voting for this season’s list of the best players in the league.
Fitzpatrick placed 79th on this year’s list, dropping from No. 18 in last year’s rankings. Fitzpatrick was 35th on the 2020 list and 52nd on the 2021 list.
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The countdown of “The Top 100 NFL Players of 2024” will continue 10 at a time at 11 a.m. CDT for the next six weekdays on NFL+. The top 10 players will be revealed at 7 p.m. Aug. 2 on NFL Network.
Fitzpatrick is the second former Alabama alumnus to appear in this year’s “Top 100.” Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith held the 90th spot on the list.
The Steelers are scheduled to report for training camp on Wednesday at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh kicks off its three-game preseason schedule on Aug. 9 against the Houston Texans and starts its regular-season slate on Sept. 8 against the Atlanta Falcons.
At Alabama, Fitzpatrick was a two-time consensus All-American. He won the Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive player and the Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back for the Crimson Tide’s CFP national-championship team in 2017.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
