Defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick is on the defensive.

The Steelers safety was asked Thursday about his hit on Nick Chubb that resulted in a devastating knee injury that ended the Browns running back’s season.

Many around the NFL were calling Fitzpatrick and his hit “dirty” because it was a low tackle at the knees.

But the 26-year-old Fitzpatrick, a three-time Pro Bowler and three-time All Pro, disagreed.

“I’m chippy. I’m edgy, of course, but I’m not a dirty player. I’m not going to sit here and defend my character. I know the type of player I am. Chubb knows the type of player I am,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’ve played against him a bunch in the past. Five years, two times a year. I love competing against him. He brings the best out of me, and I bring the best out of him.”

Fitzpatrick also said Chubb suffered a “tough, tough injury” that was “very unfortunate. … Unfortunately, part of the game that we play. I know there’s people that (thought I) had ill will behind the tackle. It’s not the case whatsoever.”

Legal or not, Chubb will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his left knee.

No specifics surrounding the nature of the injury have been made public.

Among those coming to Fitzpatrick’s defense was Browns safety Grant Delpit.

“It’s football, man. I can’t say what I would’ve done in that moment,” Delpit said Thursday. “I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm to Nick or anything like that.”

Chubb went down in the second quarter of the “Monday Night Football” game between the Steelers and Browns.

On the play, Steelers linebacker Cole Holcomb had just wrapped up Chubb, 27, when Fitzpatrick dove at running back’s legs to finish the tackle.

As a result, Cleveland re-signed Kareem Hunt to back up new starting running back Jerome Ford.

A fifth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Ford finished with 106 rushing yards in Monday’s 26-22 loss to Pittsburgh.

Fitzpatrick was taken to the hospital during the game for X-rays on what is believed to be a chest contusion, though scans were negative.