The three-time All-Pro has just one interception over the last two seasons
The Pittsburgh Steelers made yet another huge trade on Monday, acquiring star cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith from the Miami Dolphins. However, in doing so, the Steelers traded three-time All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick back to the team from which they acquired him.
While there has been speculation on why the Steelers were willing to part ways with the star safety, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the lack of splash plays over the last two years was part of the Steelers being okay with moving on.
“[The] Steelers were not actively trying to trade Minkah Fitzpatrick, but they were willing to listen to any team who showed interest,” Dulac said on X. “They felt the absence of splash plays the past two years was not commensurate with what they were paying him.”
Steelers were not actively trying to trade Minkah Fitzpatrick, but they were willing to listen to any team who showed interest. They felt the absence of splash plays the past two years was not commensurate with what they were paying him.
From 2019-22, Fitzpatrick had 17 interceptions and led all safeties in All-Pro selections. Over the last two seasons, though, he intercepted just one pass, and his impact took a noticeable step back. With 2025 being the final year of Fitzpatrick’s deal, it also felt unlikely that the Steelers would re-sign him.
The two greatest quarterbacks in Steelers history are consensus top 20 QBs
Over the last several months, I put together a panel to rank the Top 30 quarterbacks of the Super Bowl era, in honor of this coming Super Bowl being the 60th playing of the biggest game of the year.
The list has begun its three-part release over on SB Nation, and the panel consisted of the following people:
Jarrett Bailey, SB Nation
Tyler Dunne, Go Long
Eric Edholm, NFL Media
Doug Farrar, Athlon Sports
Arif Hasan, Wide Left
Dan Hanzus, Underdog
Sam Monson, The 33rd Team
Steve Palazzolo, The 33rd Team
Gregg Rosenthal, NFL Media
Aaron Schatz, FTN Fantasy
Marc Sessler, Underdog
Mike Tanier, Too Deep Zone
Matt Verderame, Sports Illustrated
After tallying up all the votes, both Ben Roethlisberger and Terry Bradshaw ranked as top 20 quarterbacks, with Bradshaw coming in at No. 13.
Part II of our panel ranking the Top 30 QBs of the Super Bowl era is out
“A four-time Super Bowl champion, Bradshaw was the cornerstone of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 1970s dynasty, earning MVP honors in Super Bowls XIII and XIV,” Eric Edholm writes. “His 27,989 passing yards and 212 touchdowns are fairly modest sums by modern standards, but they compare favorably to his contemporaries. What set Bradshaw apart was his knack for clutch performances, including a 64.7% completion rate in Super Bowl wins. His combination of arm strength, mobility, and big-game poise makes him a deserving member of the top 30 quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era.”
Roethlisberger finished right in front of Bradshaw at No. 12, and I did the tribute from the panel portion of his section.
“From a personal standpoint, I don’t know if I’m doing this for a living if not for Ben Roethlisberger. Growing up a Steelers fan, he made me fall in love with the game of football, and is a large reason why I pursued a career covering the NFL. With every pump fake, every extended play, every defender shaken off to avoid a would-be sack, every fourth quarter comeback, and every championship won, Big Ben was simultaneously one of the best quarterbacks of all-time and one of the most underrated.”
“Roethlisberger never got the admiration of a Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Drew Brees. Yet, he has a higher playoff winning percentage than both Manning and Brees, the same number of Super Bowl wins as Manning, and is one of just 13 quarterbacks to start in three or more Super Bowls. He is also a two-time passing yards leader and is eighth all-time in touchdown passes (418). For nearly two decades, it didn’t matter who the Steelers played, you knew they always had a shot because No. 7 was under center, and I’ll die on the hill that he is a top 10 quarterback of all-time.”
Part I and Part II are out now, and the final edition will be coming very soon.
Steel City Underground presents our 2024 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
It was an odd evening for the Steelers. Following their first loss of the season to the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers entered a primetime encounter hosting the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. Unfortunately, weather and poor play spoiled the result for Steeler Nation.
Despite dropping their first game of the season one week earlier, the Steelers were the expected favorites. Reputable sportsbooks such as Ricky’s Casino https://rickys-casino.com/ in Australia had Pittsburgh favored by as much as -2.5 points. That’s not much when talking about the home team, but this was a Cowboys opponent who had struggled leading up to Week 5.
The Steelers, on the other hand, had struggled on offense but complemented those woes with strong defensive efforts. They entered Acrisure Stadium with a 2-2 record while the Steelers were 3-1 behind their unlikely starting quarterback Justin Fields. Fan had hoped the hiring of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith would generate more offense in 2024, but the results had been mixed. Fields mounted a comeback a week earlier in Indianapolis, but despite throwing for two touchdowns, he would have a lackluster performance on national TV.
The offensive plays were, once again, generic and unexciting. Not that every play had to be a thriller, but asking Fields to run keepers on two of the first five plays on the opening offensive series was not inspiring. On the 11-play drive, the Steelers only walked away with a tying field goal. Three times the offense stalled before the half, forcing punts from Corliss Waitman.
After halftime, the offense looked like they’d shaken things off. On the first play, at the Pittsburgh 28, Fields threw an incomplete pass but was slammed to the ground late. Forced from the game following an injury timeout, Fields was replaced by Kyle Allen. Allen hit Pat Freiermuth for a 19-yard pass and catch; it was the longest offensive play of the game for Pittsburgh at the time.
When Fields re-entered he hit Van Jefferson twice for completions before a strike to Connor Heyward for the Steelers’ first touchdown.
The rest of the offensive output resulted in punt, punt, touchdown (Fields shovel-pass to Freiermuth), and the never-popular lateral shenanigans in the very final seconds of the game much too deep into their own territory and out of time to give Chris Boswell a field goal try. Fields would finish the evening 15-of-27 for 131 yards passing. He would also be sacked three times.
George Pickens’ name was a hot subject matter postgame, as head coach Mike Tomlin had to explain why his top receiver was out-snapped by players lower on the depth chart. Of Pittsburgh’s 58 offensive plays, Pickens played 59% of the game, behind Van Jefferson’s 81% and Calvin Austin’s 76%. Scotty Miller played 22% of all snaps while newly acquired Brandon Johnson saw the field for five plays (9%) too.
Pickens was also seen on the sidelines jawing before Broderick Jones and Russell Wilson calmed him down, and then nearly started a fight at the end of the game.
Pickens final state line? Three receptions on seven targets for 26 yards and no touchdown.
Pickens wasn’t the only offensive disappointment, as the Cowboys came into town with the 27th run defense and were without their top two edge rushers, who are league-wide stars, Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. One would assume this would be a big day for Najee Harris, but Harris struggled, as did his offensive line, as he carried the ball 14 times for 42 yards – a 3.0 yards-per-carry average.
Practice squad call ups Aaron Shampklin and Jonathan Ward spelled Harris. Shampklin had four carries for 14 yards (3.5 YPC) while Ward ran twice for nine yards (4.5 YPC). The Steelers failed to rush for over 100 yards for the first time this season, despite Justin Fields carrying the ball six times for 27 yards in addition to those noted above.
For as woeful as the offense was, the Steelers defense was on point, forcing Dak Prescott and the Cowboys to turn the ball over three times: and nearly a fourth time near the conclusion of regulation. Prescott was sacked by T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig for the final play of the first quarter, as Watt stripped the quarterback of the ball and Herbig recovered.
It would be Watt’s 100th career sack, a milestone he hit faster than any other player in the NFL other than Hall of Famer Reggie White.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Steelers defense. The unit would give up 445 yards to the Cowboys, allowing 60% of their opposition’s third downs to be converted as well as a fourth-down conversion. They gave up 25 first downs total on 75 of the Cowboys offensive plays, a whopping one in every three plays moving the chains.
While the defense forced Prescott to turn the ball over three times, they struggled to contain him for much of the evening, as the Dallas QB completed 69% of his passes for 352 yards and two touchdowns.
Those defensive storylines would pale in comparison to the sequence of events that unfolded after the Steelers took a 17-13 lead with five minutes left in the game.
The Cowboys would run the football on six of their first eight plays on the ensuing possession, running the clock down to the two-minute warning. Rico Dowdle would carry the ball four times for 20 yards during the first set of plays. Prescott would then find his tight end Jake Ferguson on a third-and-nine to convert with 1:26 to go. The pass got the Cowboys out to the Steelers 22-yard-line, as Dallas marched up to the four and then a Prescott scramble on first-and-goal would be ruled out-of-bounds setting up a second down situation on the half-yard line.
The Steelers nearly came away with a miracle play when LB Elandon Roberts punched the football from Dowdle’s grasp on a goal line dive attempt, but Prescott would recover the loose football back at the five yard line. An incomplete Prescott pass on third down setup a do or die 4th-and-4 with 26 seconds and the game on the line.
The Cowboys would spend a timeout before the Steelers would burn their last to setup the game’s deciding play. The Steelers defense came out of the break, and failed to send a blitz, allowing Prescott time to scan the field and find an open receiver for the game-winning touchdown.
The deflating final play, following the timeout, seemed to be an exclamation point on long night that officially ended at 12:59 a.m. Monday morning due to the weather delay. The conditions created sloppy play on both sides, and exposed a gassed Steelers defense that had already bent but failed to break until the very end.
Pittsburgh would lose their second game of the season by a final score of 20-17, with a trip to Las Vegas up next in Week 6. Would Russell Wilson finally play? Could the defense recover from this deflating defeat? Stay tuned as we explore each game of the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers season in our Recall series.
Think you can figure out which Steelers player we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out in our new guessing game!
Hey Steelers fans! We’re back for another day of the Behind the Steel Curtain in-5 daily trivia game. Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game! Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in this Google Form.
The goal of the game is to guess the correct Steelers player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED PLAYERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it.
After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media. We won’t go into other details about the game as we’d like your feedback on it. How it plays, what you think of it, the difficulty level, and anything else you can think of that will help us improve this game. You can provide feedback in the comments of this article, or you can fill out this Google Form.
The Steelers are walking a fine line between winning now and setting up their future.
“Complacent” is a word that gets thrown around frequently when critiquing recent Pittsburgh Steelers offseasons.
While that label has felt inaccurate — at least, in terms of roster building — over Omar Khan’s stint as general manager thus far, the team’s Monday trade of Minkah Fitzpatrick for Jonnu Smith and Jalen Ramsey blew any remaining “complacency” criticisms out of the water.
The Steelers aren’t just mildly aggressive — they’re that kid playing Madden who gets bored one offseason and resets the entire roster.
Pittsburgh was already looking adventurous this offseason, but every move had an easily explained motive. Aaron Rodgers over Justin Fields? Pittsburgh didn’t want to commit to paying Fields starting money for the next two years.
Replacing George Pickens with D.K. Metcalf? Pickens had clearly become a player the Steelers wouldn’t re-sign in the first place. They just finalized the move a year early for guaranteed draft capital.
But the Fitzpatrick for Ramsey and Smith trade? That’s the first move that could be interpreted as rash. And the Steelers didn’t even trade an aging defensive star for young, developmental talent or future draft capital, as many have suggested in the past. Nope, it was a 28-year-old Minkah Fitzpatrick for two even older stars.
As many online pointed out, it looked like an NBA trade, not an NFL one.
It’s still defendable, certainly. But there’s a lot that can go wrong.
Back to the “complacent” allegations — the Pittsburgh front office is clearly aware of the team’s past déjà vu Decembers, and they’re not afraid to tear up the roster to try something new. They’re being proactive, and whether or not you agree with the individual moves, it’s the sort of mindset you want to see from a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2016-17 season.
(Coaching is an entirely different article).
But was the Steelers’ Monday trade the right move?
If there were any lingering doubts following the Aaron Rodgers signing, the Steelers are completely all-in for a Super Bowl in 2025. To strip all the nuance from the conversation, they traded one good player and got two good players in return.
But the Steelers still seem like an obvious outlier in the race for a Lombardi. They have a 41-year-old quarterback, razor-thin depth on an already unproven offensive line, and a still no clear WR2.
A lot still has to go very, very right if the Steelers have any shot at competing with the AFC’s elite. And let’s face it — defensive back and tight end are not premium positions for a reason. The trade moves the needle for Pittsburgh, but not all the way to contender status.
Keep in mind, Aaron Rodgers is almost certainly a one-year rental. That makes the Steelers’ decision to trade for players who will be 30 and 31 before midseason, respectively, worth questioning.
Even if the Steelers nail their rookie quarterback pick (absurdly huge “if”) after Rodgers retires in 2026, that quarterback likely won’t have the team in a Super Bowl window until his sophomore season, 2027. By then, at midseason Ramsey would be 33 and Smith, 32.
Cornerback and receiving tight end are two positions that are heavily reliant on athleticism. It’s hard to age gracefully. Of course, Ramsey can and likely will switch to safety to prolong his career, but Fitzpatrick was already a good, proven player at that position — and around two years younger.
And while Ramsey provides cap savings in 2025, his cap hit rises to around $17.7 million in 2026 and $19.5 million in 2027. Per Spotrac, the Steelers can get out of most of Ramsey’s deal after this year, but he’s not a notable discount compared to Fitzpatrick in future seasons.
Where Ramsey does help the Steelers is his willing versatility. He’ll likely play in the slot over Beanie Bishop Jr. in 2025, with Juan Thornhill taking over Fitzpatrick’s free safety duties. That gives the Steelers a potentially stronger starting 11 on defense than the team would’ve had with Fitzpatrick. And with three good corners, the team should find ways to be more creative with their secondary than in years past.
There’s still a lot to like, and acquiring Jonnu Smith as well as Ramsey for Fitzpatrick made the deal even more palatable.
Jonnu Smith is a longtime Arthur Smith acquaintance, beginning his career when the now-Steelers offensive coordinator was the tight ends coach for the Tennessee Titans. He even spent a season in Atlanta in 2023 when Arthur Smith was the Falcons’ head coach.
Interestingly, Jonnu Smith earned his first career Pro Bowl nod last year playing for the Dolphins — a team with a talented wide receiver duo — not Arthur Smith’s Steelers. The good news is, despite his age, he’s coming off the best season of his career.
That season was also the first time he’s broken 600 yards in his eight years in the NFL. The Dolphins, whether it works out or not, were selling high.
Jonnu Smith’s fit in the Steelers offense is intriguing, at least. The Steelers like to run tight end-heavy sets, and Smith was one of the best pass-catchers at his position last year.
But he’s not a plus blocker. And neither is Pat Freiermuth, the Steelers’ presumed TE1. To make 12- and 13-personnel offenses work, you have to be able to establish the run to justify it. The Steelers were one of the least efficient rushing offenses in the NFL last year, and Jonnu Smith doesn’t do much to improve that.
Smith (#81) is a liability as a blocker in the run game and requires significant role catering as a result. pic.twitter.com/rMetGUgEfp
Darnell Washington, a very good blocker, is part of the equation, of course. But running 13 personnel where only one of the three tight ends is an impact player in the run game makes for a concerning offensive philosophy.
Jonnu Smith should still make the Steelers’ offense better. Pro Bowl tight ends tend to do that. But the Steelers are building a tight end-heavy team that doesn’t specialize in running the ball. If that’s the case, why not just trade for a WR2?
Again, it’s hard to see Monday’s trade as something that helps the Steelers significantly in the short term. And long term, it looks like a lot of fireworks that still keep the team on a similar trajectory as before.
However, the flip side is that this wasn’t a particularly risky trade by the Steelers despite the shock value.
Not a single piece of 2026 draft capital (or a high 2027 pick, for that matter) was used to acquire Ramsey and Smith. And even if Fitzpatrick was a better fit for the team’s long-term plans, he’s still on the edge of 30 and no longer playing his best football. It’s not a back-breaking loss.
Even if the trade blows up in Pittsburgh’s face, with Smith and Ramsey becoming uninspiring one-year rentals and Fitzpatrick making a few more Pro Bowls in Miami, the Steelers aren’t in a significantly worse spot than they would’ve been entering 2026.
Heading into next offseason, the Steelers still have a load of draft picks, a good receiving tight end in Pat Freiermuth, and the cap space to sign a good safety and more.
But that’s looking incredibly far ahead. As with any trade, we won’t know who truly “won” until the season starts. For now, it looks like a surprisingly low-risk move to improve the team’s championship odds in 2025.
But it could just as easily be a valuable trade resource wasted on an ill-fated Super Bowl attempt rather than the inevitable rebuild approaching in 2026.
It’s too early to grade the Steelers’ latest roster move.
The original title of today’s “Let’s talk Steelers” was “Grading the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade” — but that felt impossible.
It’s not that Fitzpatrick, now back on the Dolphins, or Jonnu Smith and Jalen Ramsey, now on the Steelers, aren’t already proven NFL players. But so much depends on how the players involved in the trade are used by their new teams. And, how the Steelers and Dolphins — two teams on the verge of building a contender over the past few years — finish their 2025 seasons.
A B- grade? That felt too optimistic for the Steelers. C+? That felt too negative. C++? That’s a programming language. Oh well. Time to change to a better question:
How can the Steelers win the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade… again?
When Pittsburgh initially traded for Fitzpatrick from the Miami Dolphins in 2019, it was a polarizing move. However, it didn’t take long for the Steelers to emerge as the convincing winners of the deal.
With the team trading Fitzpatrick back to the Dolphins on Monday, what do you think needs to happen for the Steelers to come out on top once again?
For one, it doesn’t have much to do with how Fitzpatrick plays in Miami. Sure, if his play declines the Steelers automatically look smart for dealing him when they did. But it’ll still take good play from Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith to justify trading a longtime cornerstone of the defense for two players in or months away from their 30s.
Obviously, if Smith and Ramsey contribute to a team that ends the Steelers’ playoff win drought, Pittsburgh’s choice to make the trade looks pretty smart.
And to push the eventual grade into “A” territory, at least one of the players would need to look like a long-term answer of sorts for Pittsburgh. Maybe Ramsey seamlessly transitions into a high-end safety/slot defender. Maybe Smith shows that his Pro Bowl 2024 wasn’t a fluke. Maybe both.
To “win” the trade, the Steelers need to get a return that both helps their current “win now” approach while also setting the stage for future success. It’s possible, but the trade wasn’t a slam-dunk fleecing for either side.
What would you grade the Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick trade? Or how can it become an A+? Join the BTSC community and let us know in the comments.
