There was an out-of-left-field trade rumor late last week involving Jonnu Smith. The gist of it was that the Dolphins might be shopping him, and the Steelers -- the Steelers! -- might be interested. Let's explore.
The Steelers link was a little goofy and probably made up (a Pittsburgh beat writer shot that one down). How many tight ends do the Steelers need? Might have been crafted with the awareness that Arthur Smith is Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator, and he's had Smith on a team or two in the past. Plus he's never met a tight end he didn't want to roster to have some touchdowns thrown to.
A related story had the Steelers looking to add playmakers to their offense. What, like George Pickens, who they just traded away for a pick they'll get to use in next April's draft?
Anyway, looking into it, we find that Jonnu is looking for a new contract, which the Dolphins may or may not want to give him. It's kind of hazy whether the Dolphins are focused on 2025, or a quiet rebuild. They shed some talent in the offseason, and are trying to trade Jalen Ramsey.
But the other possibility is they just don't want to give Smith a new deal, after his breakout season at age 29. The larger body of work has him a pretty modest tight end, not an offensive building block.
Last year, Smith was a top-5 PPR tight end. He caught 88 passes for 884 yards and 8 touchdowns -- insanity. Brock Bowers, Trey McBride and George Kittle were the only ones better than he was.
But that was Smith's eighth year in the league, and his first seven were awfully modest. From 2017-2023, laboring for the Titans, Patriots and Falcons, Smith averaged 2 catches for 23 yards. Among all tight ends to play at least half the time those years, that was 28th in terms of receptions, and 26th in terms of yards. He caught 8 touchdowns in one of those seasons, but averaged 2 TDs in the other six years. (Table showing that 2017-2023 production sorted by receptions per game; lots of the guys lower than Smith are blocking types.)
| TIGHT END RECEIVING, 2017-2023 (MINIMUM 60 GAMES) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | No | Yds | TD | No/G | Yds/G | TD/G |
| Travis Kelce | 110 | 683 | 8466 | 60 | 6.2 | 77.0 | 0.5 |
| Darren Waller | 64 | 332 | 3946 | 18 | 5.2 | 61.7 | 0.3 |
| Zach Ertz | 90 | 462 | 4594 | 33 | 5.1 | 51.0 | 0.4 |
| T.J. Hockenson | 72 | 341 | 3547 | 23 | 4.7 | 49.3 | 0.3 |
| George Kittle | 98 | 460 | 6274 | 37 | 4.7 | 64.0 | 0.4 |
| Evan Engram | 99 | 449 | 4557 | 24 | 4.5 | 46.0 | 0.2 |
| Mark Andrews | 87 | 381 | 4857 | 40 | 4.4 | 55.8 | 0.5 |
| Dallas Goedert | 83 | 307 | 3589 | 22 | 3.7 | 43.2 | 0.3 |
| Hunter Henry | 88 | 293 | 3375 | 30 | 3.3 | 38.4 | 0.3 |
| Eric Ebron | 66 | 218 | 2341 | 26 | 3.3 | 35.5 | 0.4 |
| Jared Cook | 77 | 250 | 3357 | 28 | 3.2 | 43.6 | 0.4 |
| Austin Hooper | 108 | 345 | 3431 | 22 | 3.2 | 31.8 | 0.2 |
| Cole Kmet | 67 | 211 | 2118 | 15 | 3.1 | 31.6 | 0.2 |
| Tyler Higbee | 109 | 342 | 3517 | 21 | 3.1 | 32.3 | 0.2 |
| Noah Fant | 81 | 252 | 2805 | 14 | 3.1 | 34.6 | 0.2 |
| David Njoku | 95 | 287 | 3264 | 25 | 3.0 | 34.4 | 0.3 |
| Dalton Schultz | 90 | 270 | 2757 | 22 | 3.0 | 30.6 | 0.2 |
| Jack Doyle | 68 | 201 | 1936 | 16 | 3.0 | 28.5 | 0.2 |
| Gerald Everett | 107 | 284 | 2833 | 19 | 2.7 | 26.5 | 0.2 |
| Mike Gesicki | 98 | 260 | 2861 | 20 | 2.7 | 29.2 | 0.2 |
| Kyle Rudolph | 85 | 217 | 2152 | 21 | 2.6 | 25.3 | 0.2 |
| Dawson Knox | 69 | 171 | 1966 | 22 | 2.5 | 28.5 | 0.3 |
| Hayden Hurst | 79 | 195 | 1902 | 15 | 2.5 | 24.1 | 0.2 |
| Jimmy Graham | 92 | 220 | 2265 | 30 | 2.4 | 24.6 | 0.3 |
| Logan Thomas | 92 | 219 | 2002 | 16 | 2.4 | 21.8 | 0.2 |
| Tyler Conklin | 98 | 212 | 2095 | 7 | 2.2 | 21.4 | 0.1 |
| Cameron Brate | 92 | 192 | 1892 | 22 | 2.1 | 20.6 | 0.2 |
| Jonnu Smith | 107 | 219 | 2423 | 20 | 2.0 | 22.6 | 0.2 |
| Jordan Akins | 90 | 166 | 1887 | 8 | 1.8 | 21.0 | 0.1 |
| C.J. Uzomah | 91 | 166 | 1643 | 15 | 1.8 | 18.1 | 0.2 |
| O.J. Howard | 72 | 129 | 1882 | 17 | 1.8 | 26.1 | 0.2 |
| Will Dissly | 72 | 127 | 1421 | 13 | 1.8 | 19.7 | 0.2 |
| Robert Tonyan | 85 | 148 | 1549 | 17 | 1.7 | 18.2 | 0.2 |
| Foster Moreau | 76 | 112 | 1300 | 13 | 1.5 | 17.1 | 0.2 |
| Ryan Griffin | 78 | 111 | 1156 | 8 | 1.4 | 14.8 | 0.1 |
| Jesse James | 80 | 110 | 1128 | 8 | 1.4 | 14.1 | 0.1 |
| Harrison Bryant | 65 | 89 | 791 | 10 | 1.4 | 12.2 | 0.2 |
| Adam Trautman | 60 | 82 | 845 | 7 | 1.4 | 14.1 | 0.1 |
| Jacob Hollister | 62 | 83 | 707 | 7 | 1.3 | 11.4 | 0.1 |
| Nick Boyle | 73 | 97 | 852 | 4 | 1.3 | 11.7 | 0.1 |
| Durham Smythe | 95 | 123 | 1175 | 3 | 1.3 | 12.4 | 0.0 |
| Ian Thomas | 94 | 116 | 1055 | 4 | 1.2 | 11.2 | 0.0 |
| Geoff Swaim | 77 | 94 | 694 | 5 | 1.2 | 9.0 | 0.1 |
| Tyler Kroft | 70 | 84 | 860 | 12 | 1.2 | 12.3 | 0.2 |
| Darren Fells | 73 | 87 | 990 | 17 | 1.2 | 13.6 | 0.2 |
| Mo Alie-Cox | 91 | 102 | 1286 | 14 | 1.1 | 14.1 | 0.2 |
| Nick Vannett | 85 | 88 | 845 | 6 | 1.0 | 9.9 | 0.1 |
| Marcedes Lewis | 114 | 85 | 929 | 12 | 0.7 | 8.1 | 0.1 |
It's hard to know which stories are true. There are media outlets saying the Dolphins are talking trade with Pittsburgh, and others saying it's nonsense.
What I will say is that I was one of the three lowest on Smith in the Experts Poll in our preseason magazine. I see a capable enough receiver when used, but a soon-to-be-30-year-old whose larger body of work is as a modest part of team passing games. One 88-catch season for the Dolphins while both Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were putting up modest numbers doesn't convince me anything similar will happen again. Not a player I expect to be drafting.
--Andy Richardson