The Pittsburgh Steelers made a massive trade on Monday, sending Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith. So far, the reviews have been all over the place. While we won’t know the winner of the trade until everyone takes the field, Mike Florio seems to think the Steelers are getting the better end of the deal. He also believes something was off between Fitzpatrick and the Steelers last year.
“I saw somebody arguing yesterday that the Dolphins got the better end of the deal, because they got Minkah Fitzpatrick,” Florio said on Pro Football Talk on Tuesday. “Look, something was off with the Steelers and Minkah Fitzpatrick last year. If you pay attention to the Steelers, you know that there was something that wasn’t right. And this may have worked out perfectly for the Steelers. Just wait ’til the right moment… The Steelers grab both of them [Ramsey and Smith], and unload a guy [Fitzpatrick] that maybe the window had closed on his overall effectiveness there.”
Given the stability he’s provided to the Steelers’ defense over the years, losing Fitzpatrick is a tough pill to swallow. You don’t have to look further than Cam Heyward to realize that. However, the Steelers do have their reasons for doing so.
Minkah Fitzpatrick will turn 29 during the upcoming season, so it’s not as if he’s super old. However, his game has taken a step back over the last two years. After making turnovers a hallmark of his game, Fitzpatrick had no interceptions in 2023 and just one in 2024. He was also part of a defense that struggled with miscommunications during the final stretch of the 2024 season. While he wasn’t certain, Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo did point to those communication issues as a possible reason for Fitzpatrick being moved.
Whether he was the reason for those problems or not, his pass defense was a problem. Minkah Fitzpatrick allowed completions on 78.8-percent of the balls thrown his way. He also gave up a 127.6 passer rating when targeted. Each of those is a career-worst mark for Fitzpatrick, by a decent margin. As stout as he is against the run, he wasn’t doing much against the pass, and wasn’t creating turnovers either. That, plus the fact that DeShon Elliott had such a good season last year, made him more expendable.
Whether the Steelers win this trade or not remains to be seen. But it does make some sense. In Ramsey, they get a much more versatile defender, and Jonnu Smith is just as versatile on the offensive side of the ball. The Steelers have a history of moving on from players at the right time. We’ll see if Fitzpatrick ends up being another example.
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