Jets S Minkah Fitzpatrick: Former All-Pro Is New York's No. 9 Player

Our list of the top 25 most important New York Jets entering the 2026 season goes into the top 10 with safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, a player with All-Pro pedigree who is on a Hall-of-Fame type of career path.

For the last decade, Fitzpatrick has been known as one of the best safeties in the NFL with three first-team All-Pro nominations and a collection of Pro Bowl honorees to boot. For a team like the Jets who have struggled mightily to find quality safety play, the addition is a welcome one.

All for just a seventh-round pick from the arch-rival Miami Dolphins.

At 29 years old, Fitzpatrick is nearing the end of the prime of his career. Does he still have enough in the tank to keep his career going at a high level? That's one of the many questions to answer about the ninth-best player on the Jets roster this season.

Why Minkah Fitzpatrick is so important

It's been quite a long time since the Jets have had an elite safety on their roster. Some of their best defenses, though, have come courtesy of the top players in the back-end. The arrival of Fitzpatrick is a welcome sign for a defense that was one of the worst in football last year.

Especially when it comes to forcing turnovers.

"We want guys that can get their hands on the ball; we want guys that can make plays," Jets head coach Aaron Glenn said of Fitzpatrick. "And we also want guys that, when things break down, have the instincts to get us right back where we need to be, to give us another chance to have another play."

New York famously became the first team in NFL history last year to fail to record an interception throughout a full 17-game season. The mark was just many of an ugly list of problems the team is trying to fix going into 2026.

Fitzpatrick, more than anyone, can help with that. In eight seasons, he's picked off 21 passes. While that total has dropped to just two in the last three seasons, those numbers are mostly due to the every-changing role that he played with both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins.

His flexibility is a key part to what the Jets want to do on defense this season as well. It's just part of his many strengths going into 2026.

Minkah Fitzpatrick's strengths and weaknesses

Not every safety is as flexible as Fitzpatrick. Last season with the Dolphins, injuries forced him to play a collection of snaps in the slot, as a deep safety, and in the box. His physicality and athleticism made him a top player on a defunct unit for Miami.

Miami deployed the veteran in the slot on a career-high 345 snaps, which largely attributed to him recording just a single interception last year. But he can also cover top players at a high level. Fitzpatrick racked up a forced incompletion rate of 38.5% in man coverage, placing second-best among safeties with at least 10 man coverage targets.

Whether its at a deep safety or cover man, Fitzpatrick's cover skills still make him an elite player at the position.

His lone weakness, if any, come as a run defender simply because he hasn't done it a lot. In 2025, he was the 68th best safety against the run with five run stops. It's partly because he lined up in the box on just 27% of his snaps.

It'll be hard to see the Jets put Fitzpatrick in the box again this year due to his ability as a deep safety and with his ball skills. It makes his more role more focused on the strengths of his career.

What happens if Minkah Fitzpatrick gets hurt

Unlike the last few seasons, if a major injury were to hit the Jets safety room, they do have the numbers to keep the unit afloat. New York is holding a position battle for the starting job opposite Fitzpatrick, but the trio of Andre Cisco, Malachi Moore, and Dane Belton should all see time this season.

Fitzpatrick is easily the best of the group, but developing young players, and giving them the chance to play when a star goes down, is the exact reason why the team should be comfortable with their rotation at the position.

Why we ranked Minkah Fitzpatrick here

Davis may be the heartbeat of the Jets defense this year, but the Jets will go as far as Fitzpatrick takes them on that side on the ball. In the modern NFL, a safety who can cover slot receivers, tight ends, and running backs is far more important than a linebacker who is elite at stopping the run.

That's the big reason why there's such a difference in ranking between Fitzpatrick and New York's new captain.

Leadership aside, the three-time All-Pro is the kind of star the Jets simply haven't had on that side of the ball in years. Sure, the former Alabama product is about to be on his third team in as many years, but that has more to do with the teams that moved on than the player.

In the case of Fitzpatrick, he's still one of the best safeties in the NFL. That's more than enough of a reason to give him a top 10 ranking on the Jets this year.

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