The Miami Dolphins pulled off the biggest trade of the NFL offseason, shipping off Super Bowl champion Jalen Ramsey and the team’s leader in receiving touchdowns, Jonnu Smith, for three-time first team All Pro safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick. In doing so, long time Dolphins beat writer Dave Hyde of the Sun Sentinel says the team “won’t miss” Ramsey’s toxic behavior.
“Let’s start here: The Miami Dolphins won’t miss cornerback Jalen Ramsey,” Hyde began. “They won’t miss him regularly showing up late to practice as the rest of the team was in the middle of stretching.
They won’t miss how he constantly undermined defensive coordinator Vic Fangio two years ago and coach Mike McDaniel last season in a manner that spread like a bad odor through the larger team.”
Hyde then sets his sights on Miami’s management. Asking how fans can trust the front office after repeated bad trades, including the one that brought Ramsey to South Beach to begin with. The writer also revisits the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade back in 2019 that sent the former Dolphins’ safety to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Calling it “one of the dumbest trades in team history.”
He says the only bright side, for now, is that the team will save $23 million when it’s all said and done.
Is Miami Better Off After The Trade?
We will get into the money aspect later, and are going to avoid the tired drawn out talk about the Dolphins young cornerback room. First and foremost, Minkah walks into Miami as the best player in the defensive secondary on day one. A team that desperately needed to replace Jordan Poyer and Jevon Holland got not only a replacement, but an upgrade.
However, there is an unavoidable immediate decline as far as receiving production from the tight end position is concerned. Smith was thrown into the deal as what Hyde called a “sweetener” to offload Ramsey’s “stink”.
The succession plan is apparently going to be pulling Darren Waller out of retirement to make up for the team high 88 receptions that is going to the Steel City. Waller makes sense, in the fact that he is a pass first tight end with lack luster run blocking. However, the Dolphins plan to be a run first spread attack. How does Waller fit into the outside zone scheme? We will see.
Tanner Connor and Julian Hill make up the rest of this tight end room. It has quickly become a weak point on a team already clawing to put together a post season caliber roster.
Miami Has $23 Million To Re-invest Into This Roster
The Dolphins have been chasing financial freedom all summer. By shipping off an expensive 31-year-old Jalen Ramsey, and a 29-year-old tight end coming off a career year and looking for a raise, the Dolphins have freed up $23 million.
After paying Darren Waller and a couple other new arrivals, the Phins are left with about $13.7 million in available cap space. With a handful of corners out there, I think its safe to say the Dolphins are in a position to sure up the corner room and finalize their roster in the next week or so.
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