The Miami Dolphins have traded away disgruntled CB/S Minkah Fitzpatrick on Monday evening to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Details are the trade are below.
Full terms of the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade:
— #Dolphins traded CB Minkah Fitzpatrick, a 4th rounder in 2020 and a 7th rounder in 2021
— #Steelers traded a 1st rounder in 2020, a 5th rounder in 2020 and a 6th rounder in 2021— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 17, 2019
While the Dolphins front office will spin this trade as a “WIN” this clearly wasn’t what the Dolphins planned on doing this offseason and heading into the 2019 season. Heading into this season the Dolphins planned on Minkah Fitzpatrick being a building block/foundational piece they would be building around moving forward.
Dolphins won't be winning any games or the Super Bowl but they will be the 2020 Offseason Champs with Free Agency and the Draft. #FinsUP pic.twitter.com/GwEAbjnxRw
— DolphinsTalk.com (@DolphinsTalk) September 17, 2019
As Minkah was entering the 2018 draft he was known to be a “swiss army knife” of sorts known for his versatility and being able to play multiple positions. He was also known to be a player with a high character who worked hard and had his focus on football. Clearly the scouts had him pegged wrong on many levels. While Minkah has the ability to play multiple positions the falling out he had in Miami was that he was constantly being moved around and being asked to play multiple roles. And someone of high character doesn’t pull a “diva” move and ask to be traded after only one season when things aren’t going his way putting himself first and the team second. Clearly Minkah is a “me-first/diva” player.
The Dolphins now will have to recover from making a terrible 2018 first round pick who they were only able to hold onto for 1 season and 2 games. You can make a case that the best two first round draft picks that Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has made were Laremy Tunsil and Minkah Fitzpatrick and now both are gone. Do we trust Grier with this rebuild process moving forward? There are concerns for sure.
When you trade a really good player for a draft pick, you better make good use of the pick and get a player at least as good as the one you traded – cause picks alone don’t make a team better.
— Amy Trask (@AmyTrask) September 17, 2019
Having a plethora of draft picks in 2020 and 2021 is nice, but is not a guarantee that things will be turning around in Miami. Having draft picks and hitting on draft picks are two very different things. We have seen early round busts like Charles Harris, DeVante Parker, Billy Turner, Dallas Thomas, Daniel Thomas, and Michael Egnew in recent years. While the quality high round picks like Jarvis Landry, Laremy Tunsil, and Minkah Fitzpatrick’s are fewer and further between. Chris Grier and Brian Flores have their work cut out for them in the offseason and prior to the draft. If they hit on the picks this Dolphins team will be set up for years to come. If they miss on these draft picks this franchise will look back on the trades of Tunsil and Minkah and have many regrets.
