Minkah Fitzpatrick says he will return for Steelers in playoff matchup with Bills

A day after being a full practice participant for the first time since he injured his knee in an on-field collision with teammate Patrick Peterson, All-Pro free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said he will be back at his position Sunday in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ wild-card game against the Buffalo Bills.

Fitzpatrick was hoping to return for the regular-season finale at Baltimore, but he said he was held out by the coaching staff as a precautionary measure.

“I wasn’t 110 (percent),” Fitzpatrick said Thursday. “They made the decision to sit me down. It’s a knee. They didn’t want me to go out and make it 10 times worse. I think I could have played. I always think that, but they made an executive decision to sit me down.”

Without Fitzpatrick for the final three games of the season, the Steelers turned to veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson to make the transition to the back end of the secondary. Peterson could return to his natural position for the playoff opener or play safety in subpackage situations.

“Pat did a lot of good things,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s rare for a guy to make that move late in a season, but he did a really good job. He was communicating at a high level, and he was always in the right position.”

Damontae Kazee’s return from a three-game suspension provides another option in the secondary. Eric Rowe, called up from the practice squad each of the past three weeks, started while Kazee was suspended.

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin wouldn’t reveal how the Steelers plan to use Rowe and Kazee — or Peterson — against the Bills. The only certainty is that Fitzpatrick will be back at free safety.

“We’ll figure that out as we go in terms of what is best for this game,” he said. “They’ll all have a role. What that role is, we’ll see on Sunday. … The big thing is the best way to use all those guys. We have four pretty good football players, and we want to make sure we get the most out of them this week.”