JULY 8: A few additional compensation details trickled in today on Ramsey’s situation in Pittsburgh. Per ESPN’s Field Yates, in addition to the $3MM the Dolphins advanced to Ramsey in order to help facilitate the trade to the Steelers, Pittsburgh, too, provided their new All-Pro with some early funding. Similar to Miami, the Steelers took $1.5MM from Ramsey’s 2026 base salary to increase his base salary this year.
Yates adds that Ramsey’s original deal had language that gave him active game roster bonuses of $45K per game in the final three years of his contract (2026-28). Pittsburgh changed that language, converting the potential bonuses into base salary, meaning he won’t miss out on the bonus if he’s inactive for any games. In all, the conversion adds $765K to each year’s base salary.
JULY 4: NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero made an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show yesterday, in which he gave some keen insight on two recent trades made by the Dolphins with the Steelers and Giants.
Pelissero started by underlining the influence Jalen Ramsey had held in Miami, noting his impact on former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio‘s dismissal from the team. We had noted, shortly after Fangio’s departure was finalized, that Ramsey and a few other defensive backs had expressed issues with the defensive play-caller, and Pelissero confirmed as much, pointing out that the two never clicked due to Fangio’s inflexibility in putting Ramsey in the best position to succeed.
He goes on to say that, while discussions with the Steelers had been ongoing, there was always doubt about whether or not Ramsey would accept Pittsburgh as a trade destination. From the Jaguars to the Rams to the Dolphins, Ramsey has never played for a cold-weather team, and the prevailing assumption was that a return to Los Angeles was most likely. Ultimately, the Rams seemingly lacked the cash and cap space to take on Ramsey’s contract, and while the Chargers exchanged several calls with Miami, they never found a deal that interested them.
Mostly, the Dolphins were focused on player-for-player trades. Knowing how big of a deterrent Ramsey’s contract was for potential trade partners, the team knew that it would have to take on a big salary in return. With that in mind, they turned back to Pittsburgh to reunite with safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. They’ll now take on the two remaining years on Fitzpatrick’s contract, which doesn’t contain any guarantees. In fact, if his doesn’t work out on the team in 2025, they can cut him with only $6.86MM in dead money in order to obtain $17.6MM in cap savings.
In order to sweeten the pot and bring the Steelers back to the table, they included Jonnu Smith. Smith is an apparent favorite tight end of Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. The two were in Atlanta together in 2023 and will reunite after a career year for the tight end. Smith’s recent production and Fitpatrick’s declining production made taking on Ramsey’s contract a bit more palatable for Pittsburgh. As a result, Pittsburgh extended Smith for another year elevating his annual average salary from $4.2MM on the original two-year deal to $6.8MM per year over three seasons with the extension.
Ramsey also received some money from the trade, Pelissero explains. While, technically, he isn’t receiving any additional funds from the Steelers or Dolphins, he was owed $1.5MM of his salary from Miami this year and $1.5MM of his salary in 2026, as well. With the trade taking place, the Dolphins essentially advanced the $3MM to Ramsey upfront, while the Steelers take on the remainder of Ramsey’s contract.
Pelissero also spoke on the team’s acquisition of formerly retired tight end Darren Waller, a trade, he says, that materialized relatively quickly. Waller and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, reportedly reached out to the Giants last week, telling them that Waller was either going to go play for the Dolphins or stay retired. To his credit, general manager Joe Schoen did not press Waller or try to convince him to stay. Instead, he took his prize of a 2026 sixth-round pick in exchange for a player he knew wasn’t going to contribute to his team ever again.
Waller’s fit in Miami is already obvious, following the departure of Smith for Pittsburgh, but it works out even more once one digs deeper. Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith was the tight ends coach of the Raiders for the first three years of Waller’s tenure in Oakland and Las Vegas. These were the years that saw Waller break out from a fizzled-out Baltimore late-round receiver to a Pro Bowl tight end. Peliserro claims Waller’s relationship with Smith is “unique” and that they’re “like brothers.” Especially with Waller’s troubled history, having a coach he can trust makes his unretiring make much more sense.
In terms of Waller’s impact on the offense, it seems like it could be another strong fit. Waller’s size and ball-control style of play match well with another offseason addition in wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. Both players should be excellent compliments to the speed elsewhere on the offense in Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and De’Von Achane, granted Waller can return to a high level of play after sitting out for a full season of NFL play.
Even if Waller can’t, all it cost the Dolphins to find out was a sixth-round pick next year. In order to offload Ramsey and his contract, the team had to part ways with Smith and replace him with Waller for a 2026 sixth-rounder. They take on Fitzpatrick’s contract, as well, but a year from now, the team could be free of both players’ contracts, and virtually no hint of the Ramsey fallout will remain.
Business is business
Ramsey: “We need to get rid of Vic Fangio because there’s a good chance he could coach a defense to a championship”.
Still say you swap out Hill for Pittman Jr which makes sense for both Colts and Dolphins.
Pittman brings size and contested 50/50 ability the Dolphins have been lacking in recent years
Hill adds the speed element Indy has been missing by drafting Pittman Jr, Pierce, and Mitchell.
Pittman Jr and Hill are both under contract for next 2 years m. Probably need to swap some draft picks.
I doubt Hill would even report if he was told his QB was going to be Daniel Jones or Anthony Richardson…lol.
Oddly enough Daniel Jones is better then
Huntley/Thompson/Brissett/Bridgewater
And 100% better than Zach Wilson and Quinn Ewers
A WR on course for the HOF will avoid any QBs that could torpedo his chances and the guys you mentioned are capable of doing that.
He’s already HOF bound
Has a ring
Has 12,000 yards – he gets 13,000 he’s top 20 in yards
Has 800 receptions – gets to 900 he’s top 25 in receptions
Has 90 TDs – already top 10 in TDs by a a WR
Even with bad QB play he can rack up 200 receptions, 2,000 yards, some TDs next 3 years or so
Hes already HOF worthy. Only question left is where will he finally land on the all time lists.
Honestly, I think the bigger question is will he stay out of trouble. AB was bound for the HOF and finally jumped the shark enough that he likely has no chance now. But agree, no chance he would report to Indy if traded.
I find it odd that Jonnu would be a favorite of Arthur Smith’s who never made good use of him considering Jonnu’s best season came in Miami. Basically the Steelers plan appears to be to pay Jonnu more money to do less.
McDaniel lost the locker room, the talent the dolphins had 3 or 4 years ago is a sin. Coach Mac D squandered those future draft picks like a drunken sailor. They had multiple number 1s and multiple 2s and 3s,.. and they had a talented team but no coach Mac wanted them prima donnas tyreek and jalen and any many more.