The Dolphins and Steelers have collaborated on what appears to be a lose-lose trade. At the end of last week, both had promising tight ends; now, neither has a viable prospect at that position.
Miami is sending Jonnu Smith, who lit up boxscores last year, to Pittsburgh (which already has Pat Freiermuth). The move gives the Steelers two of the top 7 tight ends from the second half of last season.
| LEADING TIGHT ENDS (second half of 2024) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Tgt | No | Yds | TD | PPR |
| Jonnu Smith, Mia. | 9 | 71 | 58 | 582 | 7 | 158.2 |
| Trey McBride, Ari. | 8 | 87 | 66 | 665 | 2 | 144.5 |
| Brock Bowers, L.V. | 8 | 80 | 55 | 614 | 3 | 134.4 |
| Mark Andrews, Balt. | 8 | 40 | 31 | 384 | 7 | 111.4 |
| Sam LaPorta, Det. | 8 | 57 | 38 | 426 | 5 | 110.6 |
| George Kittle, S.F. | 8 | 45 | 38 | 603 | 2 | 110.3 |
| Pat Freiermuth, Pitt. | 9 | 47 | 39 | 389 | 5 | 107.9 |
| Zach Ertz, Was. | 8 | 45 | 33 | 304 | 6 | 99.4 |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 8 | 69 | 45 | 388 | 2 | 95.8 |
| T.J. Hockenson, Min. | 9 | 58 | 38 | 428 | 0 | 80.8 |
| David Njoku, Cle. | 5 | 54 | 34 | 250 | 3 | 77.0 |
| Noah Gray, K.C. | 9 | 30 | 23 | 229 | 5 | 75.9 |
| Austin Hooper, N.E. | 8 | 33 | 29 | 339 | 2 | 74.9 |
| Juwan Johnson, N.O. | 8 | 40 | 30 | 323 | 2 | 74.3 |
| Chig Okonkwo, Ten. | 9 | 44 | 32 | 320 | 1 | 70.0 |
| Dalton Schultz, Hou. | 8 | 41 | 27 | 288 | 2 | 67.8 |
| Tucker Kraft, G.B. | 8 | 31 | 22 | 331 | 2 | 67.1 |
| Mike Gesicki, Cin. | 8 | 47 | 35 | 312 | 0 | 66.2 |
| Hunter Henry, N.E. | 7 | 44 | 27 | 260 | 1 | 59.0 |
| Will Dissly, LAC | 7 | 28 | 22 | 239 | 2 | 57.9 |
Smith was one of the steals of the offseason last year, signing a two-year deal worth only $8.4 million. He was justifiably looking for a new deal, but the Dolphins weren’t interested in making a big commitment to him. Hence the deal with the Steelers, who are moving Smith up to $12 million this year.
Most likely, the Steelers will be using both Smith and Freiermuth extensively, with neither finishing with great numbers. When offensive coordinator Arthur Smith had Smith and Kyle Pitts in Atlanta two years ago, both finished with 50-53 catches and 3 TDs. And in Smith’s final year in Tennessee, Smith caught passes and 8 TDs, while that team’s other tight ends combined for 53 catches and 4 touchdowns. Smith is a big believer in multiple tight ends.
If form holds, both Smith and Freiermuth should be averaging about 3 catches per week, with similar touchdown totals. (And this deal can extinguish any lingering thoughts about Pittsburgh adding another notable wide receiver.)
Additionally on this front, factor in that Rodgers hasn’t tended to be a tight end friendly quarterback. In his 15 seasons as a primary starter, only two tight ends have finished with top-10 numbers (using PPR scoring) – Jermichael Finley back in 2011, and Robert Tonyan in 2020. In the chart below, I’m leaving out 2017 and 2023, since Rodgers started fewer than half of his teams’ games in those seasons.
| AARON RODGERS' LEADING TIGHT ENDS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2008 | Donald Lee, G.B. | 39 | 303 | 7.8 | 5 | 99.3 | 20 |
| 2009 | Jermichael Finley, G.B. | 55 | 676 | 12.3 | 5 | 152.6 | 12 |
| 2010 | Jermichael Finley, G.B. | 21 | 301 | 14.3 | 1 | 57.1 | 39 |
| 2011 | Jermichael Finley, G.B. | 55 | 767 | 14.0 | 8 | 179.7 | 9 |
| 2012 | Jermichael Finley, G.B. | 61 | 667 | 10.9 | 2 | 139.7 | 14 |
| 2013 | Andrew Quarless, G.B. | 32 | 312 | 9.8 | 2 | 75.2 | 36 |
| 2014 | Andrew Quarless, G.B. | 29 | 323 | 11.1 | 3 | 79.3 | 26 |
| 2015 | Richard Rodgers, G.B. | 58 | 510 | 8.8 | 8 | 160.1 | 11 |
| 2016 | Jared Cook, G.B. | 30 | 377 | 12.6 | 1 | 73.7 | 36 |
| 2018 | Jimmy Graham, G.B. | 55 | 636 | 11.6 | 2 | 130.6 | 12 |
| 2019 | Jimmy Graham, G.B. | 38 | 447 | 11.8 | 3 | 100.7 | 21 |
| 2020 | Robert Tonyan, G.B. | 52 | 586 | 11.3 | 11 | 176.6 | 5 |
| 2021 | Josiah Deguara, G.B. | 25 | 245 | 9.8 | 2 | 61.5 | 40 |
| 2022 | Robert Tonyan, G.B. | 53 | 470 | 8.9 | 2 | 112.0 | 20 |
| 2024 | Tyler Conklin, NYJ | 51 | 449 | 8.8 | 4 | 121.9 | 18 |
The winners in this trade could be Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. They were underused last year, but they’ll almost certainly be seeing the ball more. With Hill, he averaged fewer than 5 catches per week last year but was over 7 in the previous two seasons. Waddle averaged only 3.9 catches last year after averaging 5.1 the previous season.
Reports indicate the Dolphins are looking to trade for another tight end before the start of camp. That might include calling the Raiders about Michael Mayer, who’s got some potential but is stuck on the same roster as Brock Bowers. But Miami might be looking to just pick up more of a blocker than a guy they’ll be using all that much as a pass catcher.
This deal today also involves the Steelers sending Minkah Fitzpatrick back to Miami (where he was a first-round pick back in 2018), while they pick up Jalen Ramsey. The two teams also swapped late-round picks.
It makes for a wildly out of character roster for Pittsburgh. That franchise typically prefers to build through the draft, rewarding its own players. But this year two of its three most expensive players will be guys coming in trades form other rosters. DK Metcalf (whose contract averages $33 million) and Ramsey ($24 million). The Steelers have 10 players who’ll make at least $10 million, and six began their careers with other teams, including Patrick Queen ($13.7 million), Aaron Rodgers ($13.7), Smith ($12.0) and Darius Slay ($10.0).
—Ian Allan