Perhaps it is true that Minkah Fitzpatrick has the Pittsburgh Steelers playing their best defense. One can argue that applies to games, but it also comes in their explanations for why he isn’t making plays. Despite his zero takeaways, they insist that he is indispensable to their success.

And not wrongly, I might add. After all, Minkah Fitzpatrick had plenty of great games without a takeaway when he recorded six interceptions in 2022. There is a lot of good football outside of turnovers. And for teammates like Donte Jackson, they see everything that Fitzpatrick puts in.

While they went to different colleges, Jackson and Fitzpatrick go back a ways. It helps that they came out in the same draft class and followed each other’s careers. But now that they are on the same team, Jackson sees the similarities—as well as the whole other level Fitzpatrick is on sometimes.

“Getting a chance to play with him, [we’re] kind of like-minded in the sense [that] he’s always one step ahead”, Jackson said of Fitzpatrick on Steelers Nation Radio. “He gives you an answer to a question you ain’t even asked yet because he can just see how you’re playing something. He’s like, ‘Hey, hey, you can stay playing like that because I’m gonna be here’. Having a guy like that in the back with an IQ like he has, it’s been amazing”.

While he is a gifted athlete, Minkah Fitzpatrick has always been celebrated for his intelligence and studiousness. As we saw on Hard Knocks, he is a regular in what are otherwise coaches-only meetings. And he takes what he gathers from those sessions to Jackson and his other teammates.

Even T.J. Watt talked about how just watching how Fitzpatrick takes notes forced him to be a better student of the game. The fact that he quickly translated the classroom to the field with the Steelers didn’t hurt. And Donte Jackson, though a much older player in his first season with the Steelers, is doing the same. With five games left to play, he has a career-high five interceptions.

But, quite frankly, I don’t think Minkah Fitzpatrick needs another “No, he’s actually really good despite the absence of big plays” think piece. In this context, we’re not even talking about his on-field results. What Jackson is talking about is simply the level of intelligence and intuitiveness he brings at every level.

The good news for the Steelers is they have managed to offset the lack of splash plays they normally expect from Minkah Fitzpatrick. With Donte Jackson leading the way, they have 25 takeaways, the most in the NFL. It goes without saying that they would love for him to join the party (and he does have one forced fumble). But in the meantime, there is so much else he does for the good of the team, even if it isn’t as obvious as a pick-six.