MIAMI — The Dolphins traded two of their best 2024 performers to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, a blockbuster deal that returns former Dolphins first-round pick Minkah Fitzpatrick to Miami.

Miami dealt two disgruntled players — former All Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight Jonnu Smith — and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Steelers.

In return, Miami received former Pro Bowl safety Fitzpatrick (who was the Dolphins’ 2018 first-round pick), as well as a 2027 fifth-round pick.

Ramsey was unhappy in Miami for reasons that he never fully explained, but implied were related to the Dolphins’ willingness to accept mediocrity, in his view. Smith preferred to stay in Miami but prioritized getting a better contract and remained away from the team’s offseason program in search of one.

Pittsburgh gave Smith a contract extension worth as much as $12 million for 2026. Miami declined to give him an extension that would have paid him significantly more than the $4.8 million he is due to earn this season.

As part of the trade, Ramsey will get a $1.5 million raise this season, increasing his salary to $26.6 million, and the Dolphins agreed to pay $7 million of that total salary. He announced the trade on social media.

Fitzpatrick gives the Dolphins a front-line safety to replace Giants-bound Jevon Holland. Fitzpatrick was a first-team All Pro in 2019, 2020 and 2022 and a seven-time Pro Bowler, including last season.

In six years for the Steelers, Fitzpatrick has 18 interceptions (including three returned for touchdowns), four forced fumbles and six tackles for loss.

But last season was his worst; he permitted a bloated 127.6 passer rating in his coverage area, a huge drop from the previous five years (65.7, 80.6, 83.1, 84.1, 93), per profootballreference.

He allowed four touchdowns last season and Pro Football Focus rated him 111th among all safeties, after finishing ninth and 14th the previous two seasons.

In 17 games last season, he permitted 31 of 41 passes to be caught for 370 yards, the 19th most yards allowed by any NFL safety, with one interception.

But he’s only 28 and could return to past form.

Fitzpatrick is due $15.5 million this season and $17.6 million next season in the final year of his deal. But none of that 2026 salary is guaranteed.

For Miami, he’s slated to start at safety, likely alongside Ifeatu Melifonwu. Before his acquisition, Ashtyn Davis was the likely second starting safety.

The Dolphins selected Fitzpatrick 111th overall in 2019 but he requested a trade a year later because he and then-coach Brian Flores could not agree about how he was being used. Miami traded him to the Steelers for a first-round pick that later would be used on right tackle Austin Jackson.

Meanwhile, the loss of Smith badly damages a Dolphins passing game that was heavily reliant on the tight end last season.

Smith, 29, caught 88 passes for 884 yards and eight touchdowns in his only season with Miami; both were franchise records.

The Dolphins’ tight end room is now one of the league’s weakest: journeyman Pharoah Brown, Julian Hill, Tanner Conner and undrafted rookie Jalin Conyers.

Veteran free agent tight ends still available include, among others, Jordan Akins (40 catches for 390 yards for Cleveland last season) and Hayden Hurst (8 for 73 for the Chargers).

Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts and the Raiders’ Michael Mayer have been the subject of leaguewide trade speculation, but it’s unclear if either will be dealt.

Miami likely will rely on a lot of three-receiver sets, with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Malik Washington taking snaps that might have otherwise gone to a tight end. Running back De’Von Achane also can be used as a receiver at times.

The Dolphins will carry a $1.5 million dead money cap hit for Smith in 2025.

As for Ramsey, the seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback never publicly explained why he wanted out of Miami but gave a strong hint when he posted a photo of rotten oranges on the first night of the NFL draft, alongside a caption that read as an indictment of the Dolphins organization.

“Who you surround yourself with matters,” the first part of the caption read, followed by a short inscription underneath the picture that said “If you surround yourself with people who are okay with mediocre, you too will start to be okay with it ... surround yourself with people who desire GREATNESS!”

In previous media sessions this spring, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has characterized Ramsey’s departure as a mutual decision. Grier said on April 15 that “we’ve decided that it was probably in the best interest for all parties to move forward.

“I will say, these decisions aren’t done quickly and they’re not taken lightly because we spent a lot of time this offseason working through this, talking through things,” Grier added. “At the end of the day, Jalen did not ask for a trade. So we went through the process and just felt that after numerous conversations and then talking last week with Jalen and his agent that it was best to move forward and it was the best interest of the Miami Dolphins and for Jalen Ramsey.”

If Ramsey hadn’t been traded, his Dolphins cap hit this season would have been $16.7 million.

Instead, his 2025 dead money cap hit on the Dolphins’ books will be $6.7 million, leaving Miami with more than $15 million in space after Fitzpatrick’s addition is factored in.

That money can be carried over to next offseason if the Dolphins don’t use it all this season. Ramsey will have another $18 million in dead money on Miami’s 2026 books.

Had Ramsey been traded before June 1, his 2025 dead money Dolphins cap hit would have been $25 million.

The Dolphins are expected to use some of that additional cap space to sign at least one veteran cornerback.

Aside from nickel cornerback Kader Kohou, the Dolphins don’t have a proven starting cornerback on their team.

Their other corners under contract: former second-round pick Cam Smith (a disappointment so far), Storm Duck (who made the team as an undrafted rookie last season), Kendall Sheffield (who signed recently after a weekend tryout but hasn’t started a game since 2020), rookie fifth-rounder Jason Marshall Jr., undrafted rookies BJ Adams (from UCF) and Ethan Robinson (Minnesota), Ryan Cooper Jr. (a former Ohio State standout), Artie Burns (a former Miami Hurricanes standout who played 51 defensive snaps for Seattle last year), second-year player Isaiah Johnson and Ethan Bonner, who played just 16 defensive snaps last season and 27 over two years.

The Dolphins have maintained contact with veteran free agent cornerback Rasul Douglas, who rejected a Miami offer earlier in May. Douglas started 15 games for the Bills this season.

They’ve also inquired about ex-Chargers free agent cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., a free agent who’s recovering from neck surgery. He expects to be able to play this season.

They told another free agent cornerback that they wanted clarity on Ramsey before moving forward with anyone expecting a sizable contract.

Other established cornerbacks still unsigned include James Bradberry, Stephon Gilmore, Mike Hilton and C.J Henderson.

Ramsey, 30, has played for the Jaguars (who selected him fifth overall out of FSU in 2016), Rams and Dolphins during a nine-year career.

But he became disgruntled in Jacksonville and was traded to the Rams in October 2019. In March of 2023, the Rams shipped him to Miami for a third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long.

Ramsey sustained a torn meniscus during his first Dolphins training camp and made his Dolphins debut on Oct. 28 of that 2024 season. Last year, he was ranked 25th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 player list.

Last September, the Dolphins signed Ramsey to a three–year, $72.3 million contract extension that included $24.3 million guaranteed upon signing, making him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL.

He has a $24.3 million guaranteed salary this season, and it wasn’t immediately known how much of that, if any, would be paid by the Dolphins and how much will be paid by his new team.

Ramsey — who was a first-team All Pro in 2017, 2020 and 2021 — finished his Dolphins career with 82 tackles, five interceptions and a sack in 27 games, all starts. He made the Pro Bowl in his first of two seasons in Miami.

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