Joe Starkey: Steelers clearly won the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade -- but to what end?

Joe Starkey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jul 3, 2025

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — No need for judges. The Steelers won by knockout when they sent fading free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins for defensive back Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith.

A straight-up, Minkah-for-Ramsey deal would have favored the Steelers, let alone one where they got an 88-catch, eight-touchdown tight end thrown in. Ramsey isn't the player he was, but he's better at his position than Minkah is at his and more versatile.

Kudos to Minkah, by the way, for sacrificing his body to the cause over his six years here, but that's kind of the point: He's 28 going on 34. He was objectively mediocre last season. Teams actually picked on him at times, and he failed in his role as chief communicator of a secondary that seemed to be trying to communicate in Sanskrit by the end of the season.

By any measure, this was a win — but to what end?

For all the Steelers have done this offseason — and I like most of it — it's a coach/quarterback league, and I'm left with serious questions about the coach and the quarterback.

If you don't get those right, the rest is rearranging deck chairs.

Before we dive in there, this is what I like best about the Steelers offseason: They haven't borrowed from the future to subsidize the present. If it were five years ago, they'd be the Dream Team Miami Heat. It's not that, of course, but they are taking a big swing.

I don't think they're going to connect, if connecting means winning a playoff game for the first time in nine years, but I admire the overall philosophy. A huge part of it is that the Steelers are not in any committed relationships with their key older players:

— Ramsey, who turns 31 in October, has no guaranteed monies beyond this season, so this is essentially a one-year audition.

— Darius Slay Jr., who turns 35 in January, is on a one-year deal.

— Aaron Rodgers, who turns 42 in December, is signed for one year.

— Cam Heyward, 36, is signed for this season and next, with no guarantees on next.

— Smith, who turns 30 next month, signed a one-year extension with the Steelers.

— DK Metcalf isn't old, but he turns 28 this season — and he has no guarantees beyond 2026.

— Isaac Seumalo, who turns 32 in October, is entering the final year of his contract.

— DeShon Elliott, 28, is signed for two seasons beyond this one, but the Steelers have an out after this season.

Bottom line: The Steelers clearly are angling for 2026 as a reset at quarterback and a launching point for a newer, younger football team. I like that. They're already collecting some nice, young pieces. They have a dozen draft picks next year and all kinds of cap space and have not dipped into any of it to augment this year's project.

T.J. Watt, who turns 31 in October, is a story for another day. If you're going to be committed to anybody, he'd be the guy. I just don't believe in $40 million plus per season for an edge rusher. Watt and Myles Garrett are amazing players, but they have combined for a 1-6 playoff record with two sacks between them in those seven games.

Edge rushers usually don't win Super Bowls. Coaches and quarterbacks do. And that brings us back to Rodgers and Mike Tomlin.

I'll happily admit I was wrong if the Steelers win a playoff game, or even come close to winning one — and they haven't come close in nearly a decade.

I was wrong on Russell Wilson. I thought he'd be good. He was for a while, and I still can't get over the fact that on a night when he was cooking the Browns in Cleveland, Tomlin and Arthur Smith let a frozen Justin Fields throw one of the biggest passes of the game. But Wilson faltered when the competition stiffened.

Is Rodgers an upgrade? Not from what I saw last season or his last season in Green Bay. These are the past two seasons for Wilson and Rodgers:

— Wilson: 13-13 record, 42 touchdowns, 13 interceptions.

— Rodgers: 13-21 record, 54 touchdowns, 23 interceptions.

Maybe another year removed from Achilles surgery will help. Maybe the line and running game will improve. And maybe Smith will unlock something here. I'm just not betting on it.

Meanwhile, that playoff loss in Baltimore sure felt like rock bottom in the Tomlin era. It sure looked like a natural ending, and when the Chicago Bears called to inquire about trading for Tomlin, opportunity knocked for both him and the Steelers. Both could have enjoyed fresh starts. Like Mike Sullivan, Tomlin could have gone to a new city as a conquering hero.

The Steelers, however, hung up without even listening, like the Bears were a pesky telemarketer. And with that, their offseason was doomed no matter what happened afterward.