Many questions have been swirling since the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins that included the trade of perennial Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to Miami in exchange for former All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith.
Why did the Steelers trade Fitzpatrick, one of the team’s best players since the Steelers acquired him via a trade with (ironically) the Dolphins six years ago? Why did the Steelers trade for players who play positions they were seemingly already deep at? Does this make the Steelers a better team than the one they were before the deal went down?
To help find those answers, we enlisted the help of Jim Wexell, the founder of Steel City Insider and a 30-year veteran of the Steelers’ beat. While he acknowledged Fitzpatrick’s obvious attributes, Wexell feels the Steelers are “definitely better” now than they were before the trade went down.
“They got two very good players for a very good player,” Wexell said. “Obviously, the Dolphins wanted a little more, so they got the fifth-rounder and traded a seventh-rounder. I guess there were some money considerations, too. I have no idea how this ties into T.J. Watt. … You now don’t have a deep free safety who’s an All-Pro. You’ve got to get to the quarterback faster.”
Grading Steelers-Dolphins blockbuster trade: Jalen Ramsey, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jonnu Smith all dealt
John Breech
Despite recent reports, Wexell does not believe the Steelers will trade Watt. As far as Fitzpatrick is concerned, Wexell addressed a report stating that a perceived decline in Fitzpatrick’s play may have contributed to the Steelers trading him.
“He had a fantastic spring,” Wexell said of Fitzpatrick. “They were playing him close to the line. They were doing a lot of different things with him, and he was responding. He made a pick this spring that really shocked me with his suddenness and his speed. It was a pick-six, he cut in front of one of the big tight ends. So I was looking for a very good year from Minkah.”
Wexell noted that Fitzpatrick still has the speed that made him a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro during his time with the Steelers. Wexell expected new Steelers defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander to help Fitzpatrick clean up the communication issues that plagued him and the entire unit last season.
“Minkah never wanted to talk about it,” Wexell said of those communication issues. “That was one issue I had with Minkah. He wasn’t much of a leader, at least for public consumption. He was always late into the locker room and quick to leave. Really didn’t like to talk much. I’m not saying quiet guys can’t be leaders, but you couple that with the communication issues last year, you wonder. So I wonder about Minkah’s leadership last year. That’s the only slight issue, question mark, I had.”
While Fitzpatrick is gone, the Steelers are getting another high-end defensive back in Ramsey, who four years ago played a considerable role in the Rams winning the Super Bowl. While many have speculated that the Steelers will try him at safety, Wexell pointed out that Ramsey will instead fill what was an overlooked area of need.
“They needed a third corner,” Wexell said. “Jalen Ramsey will be playing some slot, I’m sure. They’re all man coverage guys, so they’ll play a lot more man, and Juan Thornhill steps in and plays free safety.”
Thornhill’s versatility would have allowed the Steelers to do a better job disguising Fitzpatrick. With Fitzpatrick gone, Wexell noted that DeShon Elliott would likely play deep if the Steelers want to disguise their safety coverages.
Fitzpatrick’s departure also opens up a vacancy and an opportunity.
“Now, they need a third safety, and this probably opens the door for Sebastian Castro,” Wexell said of the undrafted rookie out of Iowa. “It doesn’t give him a job, but it opens the door. My guess is they liked what they saw during the spring.”
Steelers get B+ for blockbuster trade with Dolphins — but how do rest of big-time offseason moves grade out?
Cody Benjamin
It’s not hard to see how the trade made the Steelers offense better. While he doesn’t play receiver, Smith is nonetheless a talented playmaker who should make life easier for new quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The addition of Smith will also give Pittsburgh more options in terms of formations and personnel. Simply put, it’ll allow the Steelers to play their preferred type of offense.
“They’ll do a lot of what the Ravens are doing,” Wexell said. “They’ll use three tight ends and they can run the ball or pass out of it. Jonnu Smith is a threat out of that formation. They can do a lot of things that Arthur Smith has wanted to do. This suits him and lessens the pressure of getting a better second receiver.”
Outside of the trade, the fact that Pittsburgh traded a player of Fitzpatrick’s caliber is surely a jolt to many Steelers fans. While this simply isn’t something the franchise is prone to do, the Steelers’ decision to make the trade a reality is surely a sign of their desire to end their drought without a playoff win, which currently dates back to the end of the 2016 season. It’s also a sign of the Steelers’ relatively new salary cap space that was a rarity during the days of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.
“The Steelers aren’t used to having all kind of extra money,” Wexell said. “They have enough money to sign T.J. to what he wants, and T.J. knows this, that’s the reason why he’s not happy. They can take advantage of other situations where other teams are trying to unload cap problems. I would say Minkah is the best of the three players, but Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith are very good.”
They’re good enough to say that the Steelers team that will head to training camp in less than a month is now a better version of the one that wrapped up minicamp earlier this month.