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  • 7/2/2025
Did the Dolphins lose their trade with the Steelers? Breaking down why the Dolphins ultimately made the right decision.
Transcript
00:00all right so uh i saw on cbssports.com uh grades for the steelers and for the miami dolphins
00:08they trade uh and look we're a couple days removed now but just in case you forgot i'll
00:14remind you steelers get jalen ramsey and johnny smith 2027 seventh round pick they paid jalen
00:21ramsey 1.5 million dollars more uh than the dolphins were going to give them on his contract
00:26for the upcoming season and johnny smith basically got like three times the money he was going to get
00:31so he got what he wanted he got paid and good luck to him pause up forever uh the dolphins get minka
00:37fitzpatrick minka's back in miami which is just kind of like a cool full circle moment and a fifth
00:44round pick in 2027 so they uh cbs sports says that the steelers get an a minus which i think most
00:51people would agree it's not that the dolphins lost the trade um because we can argue until we're
00:58blue in the face in how you know this kind of benefited the dolphins they weren't going to
01:02pay ramsey we know that that was done and they didn't want to pay johnny smith and you can agree
01:07or disagree with it but that was a decision that they made and they got back a younger talented player
01:13in in minka fitzpatrick and they move forward so uh i don't think the dolphins lost the trade but
01:22they say the steelers get an a minus and here's what they write for the dolphins who they grade
01:27a c in the trade a c for the dolphins this trade is a bit trickier to grade on one hand they're able
01:36to free up some salary cap space by getting rid of both smith and ramsey but they also have to pay
01:42fitzpatrick over 15 million in 2025 so some of their cap savings will go towards that the fact
01:48that the dolphins traded ramsey wasn't overly surprising the veteran cornerback had been
01:52or they go on why they shouldn't pay jayla ramsey and uh it did matter he wasn't going to stay here
01:58anyways uh they write the dolphins had also been shopping smith and they had been in talks with
02:02the steelers earlier this offseason about a possible trade the dolphins got rid of two disgruntled
02:07players but the problem is that both players still have a lot left in the tank
02:12ramsey was the best cornerback on the roster last year and trading him away makes their secondary
02:17worse as for smith he caught 88 passes last season which led the team he also finished with 884
02:24receiving yards which was second on the team only to tyree kill by trading away their best corner and
02:30their leading receiver from last season the dolphins definitely didn't get the better end on the field
02:36with this trade i i i don't i don't understand the
02:41are we acting like minka fitzpatrick's 37 years old that's 28 he's coming off a couple of down
02:51seasons injury and just not great play last year and clearly there was something that happened there
02:56between uh minka and the rest of the steelers defense were just kind of fell apart and they
03:01were probably just as happy to get rid of minka as the dolphins were to get rid of uh jalen ramsey
03:06but if we're going to point out that you know ramsey's still got good football ahead of him like
03:11he's taking a couple of steps back and saying that he was the best cornerback in the dolphins roster
03:15okay the bar is below the floor on that i'm not trying to disrespect jalen ramsey he's still a good
03:22player but he's not the same elite corner that he was at one point minka fitzpatrick's probably not the
03:27same elite player he was at one point but before this year a career high in targets over the course
03:35of a season for johnny smith was 70 and that was in 2023 with atlanta he had 111 targets last year
03:42and a lot of that was because the dolphins couldn't run the ball so a lot of quick stuff and he was
03:46great for miami last year i'm not gonna poo-poo the season that johnny smith had because it's the
03:50best season the tight end has ever had in a dolphin uniform but he has never sniffed the type of season
03:56he had with the dolphins previously the only thing i'm looking at here 2020 at eight touchdowns but
04:02on 40 catches and less than 500 yards receiving like he's a solid player but they're not losing
04:07an all pro at tight end and i'm not saying that darren waller is going to be a suitable replacement
04:12he doesn't really solve any of their when you get tougher on the inside we need to get better in cold
04:16weather games doesn't solve that he's not a blocking tight end by any stretch that's kind of a wild card
04:23you don't know what you're going to get from darren waller but like this idea that the dolphins gave up
04:28generational talent here that's so significant like it's a little ridiculous like it was a move
04:35they had to make and as you guys have pointed out and as i said earlier in the week if a guy is
04:41demanding a trade and doesn't want to be here you have no leverage so the idea that they got a former
04:46all pro pro bowler who's still below 30 years of age and minka fitzpatrick that's about as well as
04:53you could do here so get out of here with the c i'm okay with like letting see it play out but like
04:57that seems a little harsh and you bring up a lot of good points and i agree with you
05:02with like people are diminishing minka like oh well his last year last year was the worst year of his
05:08career yeah well he was pro bowler and he's still a pro he's a top three safety in this league
05:13but in a vacuum they got two starters because john new and jalen ramsey are starting nfl players and
05:20you and we got one starter so i'm i'm comfortable with anybody grading out that the pittsburgh
05:26stealers have a higher grade because they have two new starters we have one new starter so that's the
05:31that's the the simplicity of it jalen was not going to be here we had to get rid of him the pittsburgh
05:38was talking to john new before they weren't going to trade john new for minka fitzpatrick
05:42straight up so now we can throw in jalen get that money off the books and now get minka which
05:48we wanted him back obviously they wanted him back because they they traded for him and talked about
05:52it he didn't want to be there john new i think john new wanted to be here he just wanted 12 million
05:56dollars a year and chris greer couldn't continue to pay everybody top dollar and jalen ramsey was not
06:02putting a dolphin helmet on for the remainder of his life so if you look at it with context to it i think
06:08it was pretty even i would give both of these we don't know what john is going to be they still got
06:12what's his name fair moose the big white boy yeah he balls out too so john who's not getting to your
06:17point josh john who's not getting 111 targets next year there's no way also on the outside
06:22with woods there with their young boy austin something he's not getting 100 targets next
06:26year he's not going to have the numbers he had last year with the dolphins jalen ramsey is going
06:30to start opposite of joy porter jr but they also have darius slave that comes in there who's playing
06:35a nickel who's playing outside there's a lot more to it when you put context behind this trade
06:39i think both teams are a solid b we got a player we wanted he didn't want to be there we had a
06:44player that didn't want to be with us that now they're there they're going to help them minka is
06:49going to help us even trade b pluses b minuses for either team that's where i would grade it and i don't
06:55and i'm pretty sure they're not locked into minka fitzpatrick after 2025 they can get rid of him
07:01before the 2026 season if they're not satisfied with whatever happens this upcoming season with him so
07:06it's not like they're locked in long term as far as the salary cap goes with minka fitzpatrick i think
07:12it's about as well as you could do in a situation like this uh for the dolphins and again the idea
07:19that we think that with who's out there in free agency at corner not saying that's going to solve
07:24any major problems but at least for this season like there are some solid veterans out there maybe
07:29like an asante samuel who's coming off a pretty major injury maybe this is his uh chance at rebounding
07:34from that and being a solid player who knows they have options right now like it's only july 2nd
07:39training camps at the end of this month the season doesn't start until september i would imagine
07:44they'll add a corner or two that's still out there and available before then this is not the finished
07:49product it's not the finished roster i don't know what it's going to be i think they're still going to
07:53be three bounces away from being 10 and 7 or 7 and 10 but i it's not the finished product what
08:02the roster is going to look like i'm with you they had they got to add some quarterbacks that's
08:06just facts quarterbacks corners oh there you go yeah and they have zach wilson we're set to go
08:11oh okay and quinn ewers quinn ewers i was gonna say hey they got quinn i'd rather see quinn over zach
08:17wilson
08:17hopefully you don't see either this year let's be honest yeah you're right yeah
08:24hey man you are you love skylar thompson you don't get you ran away from that yeah no i have
08:30no credibility when it comes to uh the quarterback discussion anymore that's fair you know i listen
08:35i i gotta take it i gotta eat it put him in the game i was i was a skylar thompson guy
08:43and he got his opportunity and to be fair he looked pretty good as a rookie in buffalo
08:48in that playoff game did he though he looked pretty good he was like 7 for 14 42
08:56he looked pretty good talking about in his uniform standing there yeah no he looked he looked like
09:03he fit the part he does fit past the eye test definitely looks like you know you know i'm not
09:10gonna get any acceptance on my skylar thompson love from mike white's close personal friend over here
09:17hey listen they have a great relationship that's not gonna do with that yeah how's mike doing
09:23great looking forward to a great year in buffalo

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