The Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins set off an explosion in the NFL after engineering a blockbuster trade during the quietest time on the league’s annual calendar. Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith to the Steel City, and Minkah Fitzpatrick back down to South Beach, where he was originally drafted in 2018.
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Since the trade occurred to start this week, we have heard many and more opinions on what it means for each side. But especially for the Steelers, who have been busy all offseason keeping bored NFL fans entertained with their confusing string of moves.
However, we finally have an insider’s take on the deal. Long-time Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz, who arrived in Pittsburgh one year after Fitzpatrick in 2020, addressed the situation on his podcast recently. He emphasized that at the end of the day, the NFL is a business.
“I feel like a lot of people forget about the business side of it. This is the NFL. This is a business. I don’t care what position, where you’re at, what you’re doing, they’re always trying to replace you. This just clearly shows it. Obviously, Minkah’s a Hall of Fame talent, best person ever. He’s unbelievable. But it’s a business at the end of the day,” said Kuntz.
The long snapper clearly likes Fitzpatrick a lot as a person. They did spend five years as teammates with the Steelers, after all. So while Kuntz understands that it’s a business, he doesn’t appreciate fans and pundits trying to rationalize the move by saying that Fitzpatrick has lost a step already at age 28.
“Now they’re all looking for things like, Minkah’s slow. Like, what are we talking about? Minkah’s slow, because on one play, maybe that someone put up, he took a wrong angle, or got beat… Like, this is the NFL. Everybody gets their ass beat here. The baddest of the baddest get beat.”
Kuntz’s co-hosts seconded his view. They also mentioned an oft-cited clip of Minkah Fitzpatrick attempting to tackle Derrick Henry in the open field. Needless to say, the play did not end well for Fitzpatrick. But as the podcast hosts pointed out, there aren’t many players (if any) that would have fared better than Fitzpatrick did in that scenario.
At the end of the day, it seems like the deal is reasonably equal, if not a major needle-mover for either side. The Steelers give up the better draft pick and the younger defensive back, but they get a Pro Bowl-caliber tight end and a small upgrade at the more important position (cornerback over safety).
The Dolphins get the upgrade in draft capital and a major upgrade at safety with a guy still in his prime, but they lose their top pass-catcher from a year ago as well as a proven entity at one of the most important positions on the defense.
From the Steelers’ perspective, they improve their cornerback depth significantly. Joey Porter Jr. likely stays as the CB1, but behind him, things get interesting.
In nickel packages (three cornerbacks, two safeties), we could see JPJ and Darius Slay line up on the outside, with Jalen Ramsey taking the slot (he played 185 snaps there last year compared to Slay’s five) and Juan Thornhill taking Fitzpatrick’s spot alongside strong safety DeShon Elliott.
Thornhill is a solid pro, but in Pittsburgh’s base packages, we could very well see him sitting out. Many elite CBs have shifted to safety as they get older. Darrell Green and Charles Woodson are two of the most well-known examples. Ramsey could very well do the same, shifting over to safety alongside Elliott, with Porter and Slay manning the outside.
Is that really an upgrade over what they had with Fitzpatrick? Only time will tell.
