At the end of last month, the Miami Dolphins pulled off a pretty big trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They sent cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith to the Steelers in exchange for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick was a first-round pick of the Dolphins in 2018, but was traded about a year later. You don’t see teams cut bait on a first rounder very often (especially one who was actually good) unless it’s a Trent Richardson situation.
Since his re-arrival in Miami, Fitzpatrick has been largely quiet, but he doesn’t want anyone to mistake his silence for unhappiness.
“I’m extremely, extremely excited to be a Miami Dolphin,” Fitzpatrick said yesterday. “Thank you to the city of Pittsburgh, the fans of Pittsburgh, you guys treated me very well.”
Minkah made it clear that he understands it’s a business and harbors no ill will towards the 412 area code.
Minkah Fitzpatrick wanted security when he came to the Dolphins
Perhaps Minkah would have been more jubilant upon arriving at the team’s facility if he already had his contract situation straightened out. He didn’t at that point, but according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, he does now.
“Dolphins and their recently-acquired safety Minkah Fitzpatrick have agreed to a revised contract, adding a $16.245 million signing bonus to his deal,” Schefter wrote on X. “There had been no guaranteed money left on the contract, and no additional years were added.”
Minkah was just happy for some security.
“I just wanted to know that I was gonna be here for more than a season,” Fitzpatrick explained. “You know what I’m saying? And I got that. And now I’m gonna go out there and play, you know, all pro-level, and hopefully earn the respect of my teammates.
“I’m not gonna take any questions about Pittsburgh or previous coaches or anything like that. I would like to respectfully talk about this current situation, this team, my players, my coaches. And I would appreciate if you would all respect those wishes.”
Fitzpatrick says he’s grown emotionally
For what it’s worth to Dolphins fans, Minkah says that he’s matured a lot since he originally left town six years ago. How exactly?
“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Fitzpatrick said. “I would say I’m definitely a lot more emotionally mature. I think I was very emotionally unintelligent back then. Now, like I just said, I learned from my mistakes, you know what I’m saying? And I tried to grow in that area.
“I tried to get to know the people around me better and learn how to communicate, learn how to not communicate, you know what I’m saying? Just stuff like that, for sure … letting that ego down, letting that pride down, understanding that you’re not gonna be perfect. And having good people around you who are gonna’ be honest with you.”
Minkah is actually one of the few people in the Dolphins’ building that is excited about the team’s direction. It’s not clear exactly what he’s seeing, but he might be the first one to notice and make that observation.
“I’m really liking the energy and the direction that this is going,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think the culture of this locker room is one that wants to win and win now. But it’s also something (a new contract) that I wanna earn.
“I haven’t won a playoff game, I haven’t been to a Super Bowl, I haven’t won a conference championship, so there’s a lot for me that I still want to accomplish. You know what I’m saying? There’s still a lot left for me to, you know, check off the goal list.”
Yes, we know what you’re saying, Minkah. But, they did tell you about the team you got traded to, correct? If there is a lot of playoff winnin’ you’d like to do, you might have to find that somewhere else because the Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since before 9/11.
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