Minkah Fitzpatrick will indeed be on the move again. The All-Pro safety is being traded from the Dolphins to the Jets, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
New York will send a 2026 seventh-round pick to Miami in return. Fitzpatrick was known to be on the trade market, and the Old Bridge, New Jersey native will land a new contract as a result of this move. Per Schefter, a three-year, $40MM extension has been worked out with the Jets. Mentioned as one to monitor, this move will reunite Fitzpatrick with new Jets DC Brian Duker — Miami’s pass-game coordinator in 2025.
Fitzpatrick’s existing deal was set to expire after the 2026 season. Notably, New York will be taking on the entirety of his salary for the coming season. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes the Dolphins did not pay out any of the five-time Pro Bowler’s $15.6MM in base compensation for 2026. That reduces his Miami cap charge to $12.9MM and increases the overall savings the Dolphins will benefit from.
This differs from the arrangement the Dolphins needed to make in the Fitzpatrick-Jalen Ramsey trade last year, when Miami needed to pay down some of Ramsey’s salary. Fitzpatrick became a somewhat surprising trade pickup under those circumstances, and he expressed interest in a long-term Dolphins future. But he is now in a rather exclusive club of players traded by the same franchise twice.
The 2018 first-round pick’s Dolphins stints are now through after a season (stint two) and 18 games (stint one). Miami dealt the Alabama product after a rookie season spent primarily at cornerback, before watching him soar to the All-Pro level at safety in Pittsburgh. The same GM (Chris Grier) reacquired Fitzpatrick as a safety but was dismissed midway through the DB’s second run with the team. With a new regime in town, Fitzpatrick was being shopped earlier this offseason. A Jets team that finished the season without an interception will bite in a rare intra-division trade.
The Jets have three safeties — Andre Cisco, Tony Adams, Isaiah Oliver — unsigned for 2026, with Fitzpatrick set to join Malachi Moore as options for Gang Green. This is Fitzpatrick’s second career extension. His first reset the safety market back in 2022. After agreeing to a rework that did not include any future guarantees, Fitzpatrick secured those despite going into an age-30 season. The Dolphins, who are about to take on the biggest single-player dead money hit in NFL history (via Tua Tagovailoa‘s release), will get off an eight-figure-per-year AAV. Safety is now one of Miami’s many needs.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
A weird target for one of the least win now teams in football, but if it’s truly only costing a seventh and a contract for a team with tons of cap space that desperately needed safety talent and turnovers, it’s hard to quibble.
Hard to be mad at this one. Safety was a big need and if anything they can flip him at the deadline for better than a 7th you’d like to think
Yeah, even if it goes terribly, it’s not a big deal.
Also, it effectively eliminates one of the possible choices for the Jets at #2 – Caleb Downs.
They don’t play wheeler-dealer in Florham Park.
Youre so strange bro. They literally wheeled an extension for Sauce and then dealt him before the season was up btw
I’m really good with it. Late pick that probability-wise would amount to nothing for a solid safety who signed a reasonable extension, rather than signing one of these top tier free agents who could potentially reset the market.
Can’t wait for next year when the Jets (naturally) suck and all the delusional Steelers fans start crying for the Steelers to bring him back. I love ya, fellow Steeler Nation, but I’m begging you not to… for the love of all that’s holy, DON’T
Minkah first … Tua next … Jets are becoming a refuge for ex-Dolphins. 😁
Jets are going to do Jets things. This one doesnt look too bad, though. Truthfully, beyond qb, which is a waste land, the pieces are in place on offense. You have the rb, you have the wr, you have the tackles, the te showed promise.
Not a bad move for them. I bet he gets a full season and moved again for draft picks.
They’ll probably sign Tua too