INITIAL Reaction to Steelers Acquiring Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith in Trade with Dolphins
Sup yinzers! Just another happy Monday in June, right? Surely there’s not much to talk about in the football world.
I want to preface this post by saying that in all my years of being a fan of this team, I’ve never seen them operate how they’re operating this offseason. For me, it invokes an interesting blend of anxiety and fascination that I think we, as sports fanatics, yearn for, so I’m all-the-way on board with it; even if it costs me my favorite player: Minkah Fitzpatrick.
This morning, reports from ESPN sources began spilling out about a series of trades between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Once all the details were finalized, this is what we ended up with: the Steelers will send S Minkah Fitzpatrick and a 2027 5th-round pick to the Dolphins in exchange for CB Jalen Ramsey, TE Jonnu Smith, and a 2027 7th-round pick.
Without considering the current makeup of the Steelers and Dolphins roster, I’d consider the compensation for this trade to be fairly equal, although it would’ve been nice to see the Steelers get it done without the pick swap. Minkah has lost the ballhawk reputation that he had developed several years ago, although I resent the notion that he has lost a step as a player. His role has changed several times over the last couple seasons, but he is at his best when he’s able to play center fielder; a role I thought he would have a chance to excel in last season and moving forward with DeShon Elliot. To say that his inclusion in this trade caught me off guard is really shortchanging the literal outburst I had when I saw his name in Adam Schefter’s tweet. A literal cornerstone of this defense for the last 6-or-so years, Minkah Fitzpatrick is the best DB the Steelers have had since Troy Polamalu. The entire world knew that Jalen Ramsey wanted out of Miami, and that he would be traded this summer. That was implied. No one, myself included, knew that Minkah Fitzpatrick was a name the Steelers would be willing to part ways with, regardless of what the price is.
If there’s a movement of Steelers fans that are extremely hurt that Minkah has been traded, I should be among the leadership. However, running it back with the same core on defense DOES seem kinda ass backwards considering how badly our defense falls off at the end of (seemingly) every season. If you consider Ramsey/Fitzpatrick to be a near equal swap, which a lot of people do, then shaking up the strength(s) of your core players is something I can get behind, thus I can get over the fact that Minkah was dealt. Jalen Ramsey brings a versatility to this team that a lot of fans are going to gush over this summer. He has a ton of experience playing outside, at (gasp) NB, and at safety. That experience at safety (dating back to his days in Jacksonville) could be crucial for us now that there’s a massive, scary, lifeless hole in the middle of our defense, BUT his ability to play in the slot (NB) is what excites me the most. I’ll do a separate post on how Jalen Ramsey fits within our defense, but to sum up my initial thoughts on it quickly: he fits extremely well. Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey, Cory Trice Jr. Good luck running routes against the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers.
When comparing who won this trade vs. who lost this trade, many, MANY folks are pointing to Jalen Ramsey’s contract as a big reason why the Dolphins won the trade. According to Ian Rapoport, the Dolphins will pay $7M of Ramsey’s $26.6M guaranteed, and the Steelers will take on the remainder of the contract, which includes a $30M cap hit in 2028. It’s certainly not ideal that Ramsey, who turns 31 in October, could potentially cost us $30M in three years. Omar Khan is swinging his nuts all over the place making moves right now, and I love the theater of it all. However, these moves could prove to be career-defining for him. How are you going to navigate your cap situation in 2028? Are those cap barriers going to prevent you from resigning the young studs you’ve drafted over the last couple years? Or add weapons for your potential QB of the future next year should it become necessary? Because, based on what I know about the Jalen Ramsey that I have watched over the years, I can say with confidence that he’s not going to restructure his contract and play for less. Those are all questions that Omar Khan will now be answering for the next several years, so I really, really hope, for his sake, that Jalen Ramsey balls the hell out.
The final domino in this trade, and maybe the most controversial, is the addition of TE Jonnu Smith. Smith finished last season with 88 catches for almost 900 yards and 8 TDs. That box score outshines even Steelers perceived TE1 Pat Freiermuth who finished with 65 catches for 653 yards and 7 TDs. Pair those two with BIG Darnell Washington who is too damn useful to be on the bench, and Connor Heyward who has worn a lot of hats and had a lot of success, and we have ourselves quite the pickle in our tight ends room. With Smith’s inability to block consistently, and the run-heavy system that I assume we will be running in 2025, I just don’t understand why the Steelers felt obligated to, not only target him in today’s set of trades, but also re-sign him to a one-year, $12M contract extension. The unfortunate truth is that the addition of Jonnu Smith probably means that our tight ends room (which is full of fan favorites) are going to have to make room for another guy that eats up a significant target share. Not sure I see the vision here, but more on that in a separate post. It’s worth noting that in the first depth chart of the 2024 season, the Steelers listed four tight ends.
To sum up my thoughts: the Steelers have been in purgatory for a long, long time. I love that we are in the news making blockbuster trades like this, whether I agree with them from a football perspective or not, because I think we need to shake shit up. With that being said, the Pittsburgh Steelers are older and more expensive in 2025. My feelings that a championship window could be opening up in Pittsburgh with all the draft capital we possess next year are still very real. We could very well look back on this move (really, all the moves we’ve made this offseason) as necessary to preserve the culture as we build around our recent and future draft picks. Also, if you asked me this morning what the team’s biggest needs were, I would’ve said NB, QB, WR. You can go ahead and check NB off that list, for now.
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