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Dolphins' financial compromise in Jalen Ramsey trade offers clues on how Miami may approach patching the remaining holes on their roster

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Kyle Crabbs | Last updated Jun 30, 2025 6:10 PM ET

The number one rule of reacting to NFL news is to wait for the fine print before you formalize your opinion.

The fine print on the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers blockbuster trade has rolled in, and with it may come the need to adjust your perception of the deal. The Miami Dolphins have known for a while that they had NFL franchises interested in acquiring cornerback Jalen Ramsey's services. They've also known that the Steelers have been interested in tight end Jonnu Smith for quite some time, too. Getting both players into a single trade was a big-brained idea until suddenly it wasn't. And that's before you consider Minkah Fitzpatrick's presence as a part of the deal, too.

The interest was there. The economics of this trade were what complicated matters for the Dolphins. Ramsey was guaranteed more than $21 million in salary this season. Jonnu Smith was seeking a pay raise. Miami, for their part, liked Smith but was not overly keen on paying him a raise, nor were they considered open to paying significant amounts of Ramsey's remaining salary.

As it turns out, the Dolphins did buckle on one of those two asks. As the slow trickle of details has continued around this trade, it's been revealed that Miami did indeed fork over some cash to help facilitate a trade.

Miami Dolphins pay additional $3 million of Ramsey's salary

The #Dolphins had previously paid Jalen Ramsey $4M this offseason and they added another $3M more to facilitate the trade — for a total of $7M. The #Steelers will pay the rest of the $26.6M this year. https://t.co/XouZmMIpbo
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 30, 2025

Miami, in summary, offloads $18.1 million in cash commitments to Ramsey, plus what turned into a $12 million salary for Jonnu Smith — who is signing an adjusted contract to give him a raise in 2025. Smith was currently scheduled to earn just over $4 million in salary in Miami. The financial cost to Pittsburgh is in excess of $30 million in 2025.

In return, the Dolphins are absorbing $15.5 million in salary for Minkah Fitzpatrick. It isn't fair to roll Smith's pay raise among Miami's savings, as they could have easily played hardball with Smith and prompted him to play this season on the contract that he had. Their preexisting cash commitments going out equalled just over $22 million, whereas, they're returning $15.5 million back.

That difference of between $6.5 million to $7 million in cash savings?

That's probably a good expectation for a budget to watch for Miami as they proceed to seek out a veteran cornerback. The team is also reportedly inquiring about tight ends via trade. Given the Dolphins' cash-conscious approach this offseason, it would make sense to see this team try to leverage their new additions within the same cash commitments of what they were on the books for between Smith and Ramsey before pulling off this summer's biggest trade.

Yet.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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