Steelers Acquire TE Jonnu Smith in Trade Involving Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jalen Ramsey, Picks

Arthur Smith just couldn’t resist reuniting for the third time with his former TE from his time in Tennessee and Atlanta. Smith finds his way to Pittsburgh after weeks of rumors surrounding contract negotiations between the tight end and the Dolphins, signing a one-year, $12.5M deal to don the black and gold in 2025. Arthur Smith’s dreams of a TE by committee have come to fruition at the cost of both Jonnu Smith' and Pat Friermuth’s fantasy values, who are likely to split reps in some capacity and be parasites to each other’s top-10 TE aspirations. Because of the anticipated two-headed monster at TE, D.K. Metcalf doesn’t get hit too hard in terms of the kind of target share we should expect him to see in 2025 – however, anything close to a full time role for Jonnu could hinder him a bit. At the end of the day, though, it’s a move from ‘zero’ target competition to ‘some’, making it likely not worth losing sleep over. As for the Dolphins offense, Darren Waller is expected to fill in the role the Jonnu Smith occupied in 2024, but it would be naive to expect Waller to step in right away after spending a year away from the game and start producing the same way Jonnu did. Instead, those vacated targets could (and should) be distributed among the Dolphins’ top three weapons in Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and De’Von Achane. At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to Tua Tagovailoa both A) staying healthy and B) having ample time to throw. Without time to throw last year, Tua’s downfield target rate suffered considerably and needs to come back up for Hill, Waddle, and co. to capitalize.