Looming salary cap questions still remain from the Steelers recent trade
Even though it was been over two weeks since the Steelers had a blockbuster trade on June 30 where they sent Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins for Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith, the exact reports of salaries are still not known at this time. As I have been waiting to get confirmed data when it comes to the salary cap implications of each player, it has been frustrating as I feel like I’ve left our readers here at Steel Curtain Network waiting for an answer. For this reason, I wanted to give an update as to what is known and unknown about the situation.
Of the three players involved in the deal, the only one whose exact salary cap implication is known is the Steelers trading away Minkah Fitzpatrick. Set to cost $22.355 million against the 2025 salary cap, the Steelers are not on the hook for Fitzpatrick’s $15.5 million base salary this season. What the Steelers still have to account for is the $13.71 million in dead money left over as the prorated bonus for the last two years of Fitzpatrick’s deal in Pittsburgh. But because the trade took place after June 1, only half of this money, $6.855 million to be precise, will count against the salary cap this year while the remainder will count next year. For this reason, the Steelers are saving $15.5 million off of their 2025 salary cap by trading away Fitzpatrick.
With my last salary cap report coming in with the Steelers having approximately $18.6 million in cap space, this puts the Steelers over $34 million in cap space. But this money quickly disappeared by taking on the contracts of Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith.
The biggest discrepancy with Jalen Ramsey‘s contract comes with the structure the Steelers inherited from the Miami Dolphins. Ramsey was due a roster bonus of more than $18 million, pretty much his whole pay for the 2025 season, come Week 1. The question is how the Steelers are setting up the contract with Ramsey and whether that money is going into a signing bonus or his base salary.
There was some news on Jalen Ramsey’s contract recently, but it still does not explain quite enough…
A few leftover financial nuggets from the Jalen Ramsey trade:
– the Dolphins paid out $3M of Jalen Ramsey’s 2025 compensation to help facilitate the deal
– the Steelers added $1.5M to Ramsey’s 2025 compensation, borrowing $1.5M from next year’s salary to do so
– Ramsey had…
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 8, 2025
While this information is helpful, it ultimately does not help in getting Jalen Ramsey‘s salary recap number for 2025. To show how difficult this is, there is a wide discrepancy in his cap number on the current team totals for the Steelers by overthecap.com (OTC) and spotrac.com. According to OTC, Ramsey‘s bonus is his base salary and they have his cap number as $19.5 million for the Steelers in 2025. Honestly, I don’t think this is correct. But at Spotrac, they have estimated his cap hit to be $6.816 million for 2025, but their number seems to be based on a lot of the same provisions from his Dolphins contract that I don’t see the Steelers keeping the way they are. So for me, this number is closer but probably still a little bit low. For this reason, I’m not ready to make a call on Ramsey’s cap hit for 2025.
As for tight end Jonnu Smith, who was going into the last year of his deal in Miami, the Steelers added on another year along with $12 million to his contract:
Steelers-Dolphins trade, Part II: Dolphins are trading tight end Jonnu Smith to the Steelers for a late-round pick swap, per ESPN sources.
Smith will get a one-year contract extension for $12 million, confirmed by agents Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 30, 2025
Exactly how Smith’s contract is going to be structured has yet to be reported. OTC does not even have any number for him at this time while Spotrac only has his number that he would have had with the Dolphins but is now with the Steelers.
For this reason, I have yet to be able to do a salary cap update based on the trade between the Steelers and Dolphins. In all, there is a chance the Steelers aren’t going to have much more of a cap hit against them than what they saved by moving on from Minkah Fitzpatrick. But until I get exact numbers, I can’t say for sure.
Yeah, this holdup with the contracts’s terms is interminable and annoying.
a true Pittsburgh Steelers fan, since the 70’s as I see it Steelers Omar Khan wasted money on a washed up and over paid CB in Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith, Aaron Rogers, and D.K. Metcalf all that money should’ve gone to signing T.J. Watt 2nd you have Roman Wilson, Mason Rudolph, Cory Trice Jr. that could fill in nicely and get the job done 3rd their is cheaper talent out their in the U.F.L. and H.B.C.U.
Ed, you’re just like the Energizer bunny. And Internet-famous, too, as your work is mentioned on YouTube. That may give ya a good feeling. I’m already very jealous…
I know you don’t read the responses because you keep putting wrong information out there that has been corrected and replies time and time again, but I’m going to keep correcting you. I think it’s hilarious that the three players that you mentioned you think are anywhere close to the level of the players that the Steelers brought in. I also don’t understand why you keep talking about HBCUs. You realize to get these players that the Steelers would just have to select them in the draft, correct? Continuing to say that’s where the Steelers need to look for other players makes it seem like you don’t understand how the NFL works one bit. Also thinking that the UFL is where the Steelers are going to find starters? This entire league is full of players who can’t even make practice squads. I love that you keep saying this because really what you’re saying to everyone is “I have no idea what I’m talking about.“ I’m just waiting for you to make an equivalent suggestion of the Steelers finding their next superstar at junior college.
If only you would realize how much of a running joke you have become around these parts.
Nah, Ed reads responses. Similar to a fella I knew from LinkedIn, back in the day.
Do you think Ed is for real? I’m starting to think he’s just a top level troll who actually knows something about football but puts this ridiculous stuff out there instead. Honestly, if he revealed himself to be such a thing I’d have a whole lot more respect for him. Can anyone who takes the time to comment about this stuff really have this little idea of how it works?
Nailed it, Dave. Though I’d use a different word than troll.
Mic drop.
Meanwhile, OTC has been updated since this article was written.
Of course. I knew as soon as I wrote something else they would do it, so that’s part of the reason why I did this article😃
But the biggest question is still unanswered. They added Jonnu Smith but they did not change anything with Jalen Ramsey. And there’s no way that’s his cap hit for this year.
OTC did not remove Ramsey’s gameday roster bonuses (Pgh did that already), what they have up now is clearly incorrect.
Was it the one that Spotrac just updated as well?
OTC and Spotrac confuse the hell outta me (still) and always report different numbers. That’s why I only trust Dave since he’s almost bang on every time.
They seem to now be in agreement on Smith at $5.1275 for 2025. Spotrac now has Ramsey even lower than last night. So things still aren’t completely clear.
Steelers Depot may have scooped everyone, I’m afraid. Ramsey’s AAV and cap hits are down, though he’s getting a lot if he’s playing safety, primarily. He won’t do that, I don’t think.
I’ve been trying to piece this together from both places. OTC obviously isn’t right as they have a prorated bonus for $18.98 they aren’t adding in to the cap hits. I think their base salary for 2025 is the biggest thing that’s wrong.
A big question is if they keep the void years. I doubt the Steelers do. If they don’t have void years, the cap hit this year goes up a little this year but less than $1 million.
Yeah, Depot is stuck on this, too, false alarm. Ramsey’s Miami contract was complex and dumb. Jonnu’s was simple.