Minkah Fitzpatrick – December 20, 2018
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Thursday, December 20, 2018
S Minkah Fitzpatrick
(Is safety your best position do you think?) – “I don’t know. I think just being out there on the field wherever I’m at and wherever I’m called to be, that’s where I’m best at.”
(Throughout the course of your career going back to Alabama, where did you play the most? Was it safety?) – “Nickel.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said it is amazing how you’ve been able to handle everything for a rookie. Have you ever felt like your head was spinning at all this year? Has it been second nature to do all of these things because you’ve done them before?) – “I don’t think my head was ever spinning. I don’t think I’d be doing it if my head was spinning. The coaches do a really good job of helping me prepare. My teammates do a really good job of helping me prepare. It’s a lot but week to week, I kind of know what I’m doing going into the game. (There were) maybe one or two times I didn’t know early on in the week and we had to change things up, but that’s football. You’ve just got to adjust, do what you’ve got to do and everybody helps prepare. (We have to) make sure we’re doing what we’ve got to do to win the game.”
(At Alabama you really knew nothing but excellence and 7-7 this year is good but it’s not playoff good. How has the season been for you to deal with on a personal level?) – “Obviously I’m not happy with that but I think there’s a lot of things that we could learn from this season as a team and to improve on next season. I can’t really compare my past seasons to this one. It’s a different level (and) a different ballgame. I do take a lot of things I learned in college at Alabama and try to apply them here. But like I said, I don’t think anyone would be excited about being 7-7 or 8-8, whatever it may be. We have to keep moving forward, keep learning, keep pushing and get better.”
(You don’t have a whole lot of experience in losing I guess was the point of the question.) – “Yeah. I don’t.”
(What have you learned and how important is communication in the secondary in the NFL?) – “It’s important on any level – little league all the way up to the pros – because the secondary, that’s the last line of defense. So if something busts up there, you’re going to get exposed. A d-lineman can make a mistake and a linebacker might make up for it, or a linebacker makes a mistake and a DB makes up for it, but if a safety or corner makes a mistake, you’re going to know it was them on the spot. So it’s really important that we’re all on the same page. We have a saying: ‘If we’re all wrong, we’re all right.’ If we’re on the same page, if we’re doing something wrong, we’re all right. As long as we’re on the same page and moving and flowing together … Everybody is connected on a string in the back end. So if everybody is in the right spots and moving the right way, there’s no holding on the string and we’re good.”
(What part of your game do you think you need to work on the most this offseason?) – “I don’t know. I think overall just improving on … As a player of the game – a student of the game – there’s a lot of things I can learn just mentally. Then physically, you just work on everything: coming out of breaks, being explosive and everything like that. Looking at the right thing and coming out of your breaks. I think just improving on details and improving on my mental game.”
(When T Laremy Tunsil was a rookie, he played guard. For the last two years, he’s talked about how that experience has helped him when he’s playing tackle. Can you draw a parallel on any way from when you’re playing safety or corner that having played the other one helps?) – “Yeah. When you play one position in the back end, you don’t really know what everybody else is doing at all. When you move around … At nickel, I know what (they’re doing). Since I’ve played corner and since I’ve played safety, I know exactly what they’re doing behind me so I can do certain things and move a certain way to allow me to play faster, react and play with instincts and everything like that. Just knowing what everybody is doing around me definitely helps and it allows me to play faster.”
(Do you think you deserve consideration for defensive rookie of the year?) – “I don’t know. I think I’ve done a very good job. A lot of things don’t fall into my hands. I can only control what I can control. I’m just going to keep trying to get better and keep trying to learn everything and move forward.”
(I think there was one other first-round safety – Derwin James. Are you familiar with his game? How do you think you contrast?) – “We’re both versatile but a different type of versatility. He’s more of an in-the-box type guy. He’s a great player (and) flies to the ball; a great tackler. I’m more of a back-end type guy. I’m covering top receivers week to week, moving inside and outside on the back end. It’s just different. We’re both versatile, like I said. There are a lot of comparisons coming out and everything like that but I think he’s a great player. He moves around. He’s more inside closer to the ball and I’m more towards the back end covering people.”
(Have you kept an eye on the other rookies this year to see how they’ve done?) – “Oh, yeah. I keep up with a lot of guys, just looking at their highlights and things like that. When you see people making plays, you go look at the NFL Instagram. I definitely keep up, for sure.”
(Indianapolis has a pretty good linebacker in LB Darius Leonard.) – “Yeah, he’s really, really good. Is he still leading the NFL tackles? He was for a long time. I know when we played them, he was the leader. That dude is a really good player. He just flies around. He actually got hurt in our game but I think he came back later on. He’s a good player.”
(I’ll put you on the spot: Who would you vote for for defensive rookie of the year?) – “I don’t know. There’s a lot of great players.”
(That’s you then? So you’re saying yourself?) – “(laughter) I’m saying I don’t know. There’s a lot of great players.”
(What did you do with your touchdown football?) – “I’m just going to put it up in my little trophy room with all of my jerseys and old trophies and stuff like that. I’ll get a little box for it. My first pick-six.”
