The Dolphins Have Had Trade Talks With Teams Regarding Minkah Fitzpatrick

The Miami Dolphins are entering yet another rebuild and are looking to sell a key piece in their secondary. According to Jordan Schultz, the Miami Dolphins have been in trade talks with teams about 5x Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. They are completely revamping their roster after a disappointing 2025 season.

Miami acquired Fitzpatrick along with a 5th-round pick in exchange for CB Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith, & a 7th-round pick last June. They have already released four players earlier this week, including Tyreek Hill, and are in the early stages of resetting the roster under a new regime.

Dolphins Are Shopping Fitzpatrick

The Dolphins moving on from Minkah Fitzpatrick really doesn’t come as a shock. The team won’t be ready to compete within the next 2-3 seasons, and they’d be wasting Fitzpatrick’s prime. Given that he’s in the final year of his contract, the Dolphins are trying to trade him to a new team to recoup some cap space and acquire draft capital. Given that he’s only 29, he’s a perfect fit for many contending teams.

While he hasn’t been able to replicate his elite play with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Minkah Fitzpatrick is still one of the best safeties in the NFL. This past season, he totaled 82 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and one interception. He is excellent in coverage, and he will wreak havoc on whatever team he ends up on next season.

What Teams Will Be Interested?

I expect the Dallas Cowboys to be the frontrunner to land Minkah Fitzpatrick this offseason. They were heavily linked to him at the trade deadline, and Jerry Jones will aim to completely revamp what ended up being the worst secondary in the entire league. He won’t cost a ton and will probably be traded for a fourth-round pick, which is an easy move for the Cowboys.

They have a great defensive line led by Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark, but they need help at defensive back. The good news is that their new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker, has a great track record of developing corners, coaching guys like Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and Patrick Surtain II. Fitzpatrick would be an incredible fit in Dallas, and Jerry Jones showed interest in the star safety back in 2019 before he was eventually traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Will Miami Continue To Sell?

The biggest name to keep an eye on is going to be Tua Tagovailoa. The 27-year-old quarterback was benched last season after throwing 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He was an absolute disaster and showed once again that he is not capable of being a franchise quarterback for Miami. They signed him to a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension in July 2024, and the deal looks worse by the day.

Another big name to watch out for is wideout Jaylen Waddle. The Dolphins were listening to offers at the trade deadline, but nothing materialized. If they want to capitalize on acquiring young talent and stacking draft capital, Waddle will fetch a big return. If the Dolphins don’t find an answer at quarterback, trying to keep the star receiver instead of trading him while his value is highest would be a questionable decision.

Jon-Eric Sullivan has a lot of work to do in his first offseason as General Manager. He’ll have to work around many obstacles, especially if they end up taking on a historic amount of dead cap if they were to release Tua Tagovailoa. If he wants to turn the team around quickly, he’ll have to hit on a lot of draft picks, and that starts with the 11th overall pick in the upcoming draft.