Alabama junior DB Minkah Fitzpatrick will likely be drafted somewhere in the top half of the 1st round. I use Defensive Back as his position because I truly think there will be teams in the league who are split on whether he should be a standard cornerback, a safety, a hybrid, or a nickel/slot cornerback. You see, Minkah Fitzpatrick does a little bit of everything. He’s the renaissance man of this draft.
According to NFLDraftScout.com, Minkah measures out at 6002 and 201 pounds. The 4.52 40-yard dash time I have for him is subject to change—and likely will at the combine—but some reports say he recorded a 4.39 in front of NFL scouts over the summer.
At ‘Bama he largely played safety and also in the slot. He just looks comfortable taking on a lot of roles: outside, in the slot, or as I mentioned before, playing safety.
I would try him as a cornerback first. One who plays outside, but can bump inside in nickel. He has the ideal height, length, and speed for a cornerback, and he’s got quick enough hips to turn and run. A really good example of that was when he was matched up against Texas A&M’s first round talent Christian Kirk in the slot. Fitzpatrick was not intimidated in the least, and trusted not only his ability to turn and run, but his deep speed as well.
That last paragraph seems—and is—very complimentary of Minkah, but I’ve never been one to run away from the negatives in life. Sometimes you have to hit them head on, and that’s what I’m doing here. At Alabama, Minkah is asked to play a lot of zone; it’s just a part of the Saban scheme. I’m not saying that Minkah Fitzpatrick can’t play man coverage, but—while the kid seems confident in his abilities to play man—he’s clearly more comfortable in zone coverage. It’s important to remember that this is an extremely small sample size, and he won almost all the time in man coverage, but here is Texas A&M WR Christian Kirk routing up Fitzpatrick on the in n’ out route. (The Whataburger route is better).
Now that we’ve gotten through that, let’s justify what I said about Minkah being comfortable in man coverage. This is minutes later in that same game, going up against the very same Texas A&M WR, one Christian Kirk.
That battle was a fun one to watch, but it’s not like Alabama put Minkah squarely on Christian Kirk. Alabama has enough talent to do a lot of things with their defense. One of those things is: let Minkah Fitzpatrick blitz. While not the full finishing act that you may be hoping for, here’s Minkah sliding through a small hole in a blitz against Arkansas.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a pass play or a run play, when Minkah Fitzpatrick was asked to blitz, he usually affected the play in some way. Whatever you think of Pro Football Focus (and sometimes i’m not sure myself), they did have him ranked as the fourth-best run player among cornerbacks.
As I said earlier, I think scheme will matter. Traditionally, NFL teams will pinpoint a player to fit their scheme. They will have an idea of what he will be when they take him. I want you to watch this graphic and realize why I believe some NFL teams will be second guessing how to utilize Fitzpatrick. This is just a graphic gif showing examples of all the places he lines up.
He’s a really good run player, willing to throw his body around. Notice what the Cowboys have done over the last few years. They’ve got guys in the secondary who want to tackle. Awuzie, Lewis, Woods, and Anthony Brown are all guys who stood out on tape as really good and willing tacklers. Minkah does the same.
Away from the tape, off the field, Fitzpatrick checks all the boxes. He’s smart, competitive, and a good kid with natural quiet leadership skills. I’ve read that he was one of Nick Saban’s favorite players of all time. According to this Bleacher Report profile, his only vice is …sometimes he likes to play Grand Theft Auto.
Even good people like to virtually steal cars and run from the cops sometimes right? If there is one thing we know about the adult male, it’s that they love police chases.
The next question: ball skills. You won’t get a good answer from 2017 tape; he only had one interception in 2017. In 2015 as a freshman he had two interceptions, but he had six as a sophomore in 2016, including three against Arkansas. But he should have had four:
Just so we cover both sides, here he is in that same game, using his hands to intercept a pass in some major traffic.
Minkah Fitzpatrick is not the perfect prospect, but he is the type of guy who’s selected in the top ten or twelve players almost every year in the NFL draft. There’s no doubt he could specialize at one position, but I’d love to see him go to a place where he can do a little bit of everything. Last year the Browns selected Jabrill Peppers super early, envisioning him as a deep safety in centerfield. Is that what he does best? (I don’t really think so.) With the Browns picking at #1 and #4, I’m curious to see how much consideration they give guys like Fitzpatrick and Florida State DB Derwin James.
Yesterday, while reading Jeff Cavanaugh’s scouting report on Georgia LB Roquan Smith, I was reminded of the importance of mismatches in this league. I think Minkah Fitzpatrick has the ability to continue to develop into a mismatch obliterator.
I give Minkah Fitzpatrick with a clear first round grade. I think he’s going to be a playmaker in the run and pass game, and I think he has football smarts to go along with his position flex, should a team choose to utilize that.
He does a lot of things well, and few things poorly. He’s going to arouse so many defensive coordinators …from a football standpoint, of course. Hell, he’s aroused me.
Kevin “KT” Turner is the producer of the Ben and Skin Show. You can hear him from 3-7pm Monday–Friday on 105.3 The Fan. KT also wants you to know that he loves you.
Andrew Robertson says
Awesome scouting report! Really enjoyed the tape clips you included in the report, it made it easier to visualize the traits you were writing about.
Let me preface this question by saying that I doubt the Cowboys end up drafting Fitzpatrick because 1) I think he’ll get picked before us, and 2) I think the Cowboys have bigger needs than DB that need to be addressed in the first round.
With that said, hypothetically if the Cowboys did end up drafting him, do you think they would try him out at Safety? Considering they just spent quite a few picks on developing a young Cornerback core. I’m just interested to hear your thoughts on how a team like the Cowboys would use someone like Fitzpatrick.
Thanks for another solid Cowboys article!
Kevin Turner says
The Cowboys are interesting in that regard. When they selected Byron Jones, I thought he would be CB. Instead they chose to play him at safety and then when Mo C and Scandrick got hurt he had to fill in at CB. I mean most teams don’t ask their 1st round pick to play safety, slot, and outside, and that’s what Byron had to face in year 1. I think it possibly stunted his growth at safety. All the while, I never like their use of him at safety in the first place.
Last year with Xavier Woods, he played some nickel CB on tape, but not a ton. Enough to say , “yeah he can do it.” But we saw him as a safety, hell we had a 3rd round grade on him. Cowboys used him at both safety and nickel CB this year, almost mainly nickel CB and that was a surprise.
So honestly, I have no idea how the Cowboys would handle a guy like Minkah. Secondary coach Joe Baker is gone, so maybe things change w the new DB coach, but I doubt it.
Let’s view it as a win/win though, we won’t have to worry about it because Minkah is almost certainly going in the top 10…or 5. God knows what Cleveland is thinking at 4.
Zach Johnson says
Do you think the Cowboys are set at the top 2 CB positions with Lewis and Awuzie? Or are they still going to try and get someone that can have more of an impact? Maybe another slot CB with the likely departure of Scandrick?
For what it’s worth, I was extremely impressed with Jourdan Lewis as the season went on, especially for a rookie 3rd rounder. He probably had the best season of anyone of the Cowboys’ secondary.
Kevin Turner says
Yeah and he would have gone much earlier, but he had an off the field issue that he was later absolved of. Don’t forget Anthony Brown in this mix. I think they’ll add one CB in the draft too, no matter what happens with Scandrick. I think they’re looking for competition at the position, and it’s there with these guys. I feel really good about the future of the secondary.