The Minkah Fitzpatrick trade, Part One: Why did the Steelers move on from their star safety?
The Steelers and Dolphins executed a blockbuster trade on Monday, swapping Pro Bowl defensive backs Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jalen Ramsey. The Dolphins also sent tight end Jonnu Smith to the Steelers, and the teams exchanged late round picks in 2027.
I’m going to look at this trade in three separate parts, each highlighting one of the players involved. Up first, Minkah Fitzpatrick. Why did the Steelers part ways with their Pro Bowl safety? Here are some thoughts.
Declining production
When Fitzpatrick came over from the Dolphins via an initial trade in 2019, he arrived on the scene like a lightning bolt. He had four interceptions in his first six games, one of which he returned for a touchdown. In his first four years as a Steeler, Fitzpatrick had 17 total interceptions, and was every bit the play-making, ball-hawking difference-maker the Steelers had hoped for on their back end.
Things changed the past two seasons. Pittsburgh retreated from the blitz-heavy, pass-rush oriented scheme they ran under Keith Butler and adopted more of Teryl Austin’s bend-but-don’t break approach. That relegated Fitzpatrick to more of a deep safety role, where he was around the football far less. Fitzpatrick was effective at taking away deep shots from opposing quarterbacks, but he didn’t make many splash plays. His PFF grades as both a run and pass defender declined, and his communication with his fellow defenders in the secondary seemed to suffer as well. Fitzpatrick was singled out — not specifically by name, but indirectly — by Patrick Queen after last season’s Week 17 loss to the Chiefs for failing to cover the flat on a simple swing pass that generated Kansas City’s first touchdown (see the film clip below). The execution in the secondary as a whole was bad, and though all the blame did not fall on Fitzpatrick, it’s clear the Steelers no longer felt he was worth the money they were paying him.
When I think of reasons why the Steelers were willing to part with Minkah, this play comes to mind from Week 17 last season.
Patrick Queen made reference to the media afterwards about “not covering the flat” on KC’s first touchdown, and others seemed frustrated with the failed… pic.twitter.com/kfqeadg1Nb
— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) June 30, 2025
Salary
Speaking of, Fitzpatrick’s cap hit for 2025 was set to be around $23 million. His annual salary was in the $18 million range, ranking him in the top five among active safeties in the league. Pittsburgh has the league’s highest-paid defense, and with a contract extension for T.J. Watt looming, may have looked at moving Fitzpatrick as a way to free up some money to extend Watt.
The Ramsey trade complicates that logic. Ramsey is set to earn $26 million this season, and the Dolphins will take on only $3 million of that as per the terms of the trade. They had previously paid $4 million of his salary, so the Steelers will be on the hook for the remaining $19 million. That makes their savings for this year in moving on from Fitzpatrick minimal. However, with Ramsey in the fold, they have solidified their cornerback room, which was arguably their weakest position group from last season. Plus, Ramsey has the ability to play safety, which is something the Steelers may experiment with. The $4 million or so in base salary the team will save this season in swapping Fitzpatrick for Ramsey seems justified when you consider what Ramsey’s versatility will do for this defense.
Use in Pittsburgh’s scheme
This is arguably the most important reason Fitzpatrick is gone. Fitzpatrick had become a glorified deep-third defender, which means the Steelers were no longer employing him like an $18 million-a-year player. In the role for which he was being used, they decided they could better allocate that money.
Pittsburgh could have moved Fitzpatrick back to more of a play-maker role by dropping him into the hole as part of their post-snap rotations or by letting him man-up more on tight ends and slot receivers. Tight ends gave Pittsburgh a problem last year. Travis Kelce caught eight passes for 84 yards against them. Mike Gesicki caught eight for 68 yards. Baltimore’s tight ends were productive as well. Whether Pittsburgh felt Fitzpatrick was no longer a good matchup against these players, or they trusted him more as their back-end safety net, is unknown. Either way, they weren’t getting $18 million-a-year value out of him.
Their problems at the cornerback position compounded the situation. The past two seasons, Fitzpatrick has provided insurance for Donte Jackson and Levi Wallace, both of whom were run by frequently. Pittsburgh could no longer play heavy doses of quarters coverage, which left those corners on an island against vertical routes. They’re not a cover-2 team under Austin, either, which means they played some form of single-high coverage on most downs. Fitzpatrick was the best single-high safety on the team, even if the role didn’t provide the play-making they desired. With the defense finishing 25th in the league last year in passing yards allowed, a change was deemed necessary. In acquiring Ramsey, the Steelers must feel confident they have the pieces to play coverages that maximize their personnel, both financially and in terms of performance.
For a video breakdown of how Pittsburgh’s problems at corner dictated a change in Fitzpatrick’s role, check out the player below:
Why did the Steelers move on from Minkah Fitzpatrick?
Declining production and a big cap hit played a role. But so too did the poor quality of their cornerback play last season, and how that changed the way they used MF.
Thoughts on this in the video breakdown ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/3ON9mdfmNa
— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) June 30, 2025
In Part Two of this series, we’ll examine what Jalen Ramsey brings to Pittsburgh, and how the Steelers may use him in their defense.
For more of my work, follow me on X @KTSmithFFSN, and tune in to my “Call Sheet Daily” podcast every Monday-Friday on all major platforms. You can also catch me every Monday on the “Here We Go” Steelers show with Bryan Anthony Davis.
Good stuff as always Coach.
I agree about his use in Pittsburgh’s scheme being a big reason for his production drop off and making him expendable. Not sure if its a smart move to scheme one of your best players out of the position to make plays, but none the less Austin did.
Hopefully Ramsey can fit the scheme better, if not its just more waste of talent. Looking forward to part two.
I too question whether Austin was making the best possible use of Fitzpatrick. I think he was faced with a choice — play MF closer to the ball, where he may produce more splash plays but the Steelers may also yield more explosives; or play him as a deep centerfielder where his production will decline but the defense will give up fewer big plays.
Not surprisingly, PIT took the more conservative approach.
Playmaking players not in position to make splash plays, a communication issue that’s starting to sound chronic, bad tackling, passive vanilla schemes… When I line up all these problems they look to me like an arrow pointing at Austin.
Particularly the passive, vanilla schemes part… if it’s due to poor playing for whatever reasons routinely (if players aren’t handling the mental or physical aspects of their role within the group), time for new players. And if the coach(es) cannot implement a scheme that cannot cause the opponent to feel pressure and hesitation in performing their piay, time for new coach(es). For example, Flores does an adequate job coaching with a team without three superlative players. Wish Pgh could have had a guy like that coaching in Pgh.
Austin’s been afforded some grace, shall we say… Canada had far too much grace, too. Noll was also loyal to his assistant coaches, but Noll did move on quickly from Joe Walton. Cowher notoriously burned through assistant coaches, exceptions including Capers and Lebeau.
very good breakdown. It is a little tiresome to hear people say he is washed up. Scheme can make or break a player in the public’s view. I hate to see them lose that much talent but as you said you don’t need Max Verstappen to drive a bus route to get you to work.
Note that in 2023 MF39 played in the box, when he achieved the same NexGen tackling title as Elliot last season. Last season’s job for MF39 was largely covering for poor CB play, until Pgh finally had to bring him closer to the LOS… from necessity. MF39 was spread too thin.
Hard to have/keep a roster of mostly superlative players for long, need to sucessfully scheme defensive play. [Same for offense, too.]
I think Minkah had had enough of less than mediocre coaching.
Maybe, he didn’t talk much or act out, he’s grown-up, unlike some others.