Steelers and Dolphins make blockbuster trade, plus Lamar Jackson confident Ravens can finally win Super Bowl

The Steelers and Dolphins pulled off a blockbuster trade Monday that involved three different players and two draft picks. The Steelers are sending Minkah Fitzpatrick to Miami in exchange for both Jonnu Smith and Jalen Ramsey. That’s right, the Steelers acquired two players in the deal. 

Here’s a look at the overall terms of the trade: 

Steelers get

• CB Jalen Ramsey
• TE Jonnu Smith
• 2027 seventh-round pick 

Dolphins get:

• S Minkah Fitzpatrick
• 2027 fifth round pick 

Notes: Smith got a one-year, $12 million extension as part of the trade, according to NFL.com. As for Ramsey, he’s getting a $1.5 million raise from the Steelers and will now earn $26.6 million in 2025. 

With that in mind, let’s grade this monster of a trade. 

• Steelers: A- The Ramsey part of this deal is interesting because the Steelers now have a crowded cornerback room. With Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay already on the roster, the Steelers didn’t necessarily need to add a corner, but when a three-time All-Pro like Ramsey becomes available, it’s hard to say no. Slay, Porter and Ramsey can all play the outside, but the Steelers will only need two of them on the job. That could put Mike Tomlin in a position where he’s able to use Ramsey any way that he sees fit. Ramsey has plenty of experience in the slot, so he could certainly be used there. Also, Slay is 34, so if they want to keep him fresh, they could put Ramsey on the outside. Having too many corners is a good problem to have, and if anyone can figure out how to make this work, it’s Tomlin. 
• Dolphins: C. The Dolphins got rid of two disgruntled players, but the problem is that both players still have a lot left in the tank. Ramsey was the best cornerback on their roster last year, so trading him away makes their secondary worse. As for Smith, he caught 88 passes last season, which led the team. He also finished with 884 receiving yards, which was second on the roster behind only Tyreek Hill. By trading away their best corner and leading receiver from last season, the Dolphins definitely didn’t get better on the field with this trade. 

If you want to read the full breakdown of my grades, you can do that here. 

Since taking over as the Ravens’ starting quarterback in November of 2018, Lamar Jackson has won two NFL MVP awards and led Baltimore to the playoffs a total of five times, but there is one thing he still hasn’t accomplished and that’s winning a Super Bowl. 

Although the Ravens have come up short, Jackson thinks they’re close to finally breaking through. He gave his thoughts on the subject during a recent interview with Kevin Hart on the comedian’s “Cold as Balls” series. 

• Jackson says the Ravens are extremely close to winning a Lombardi Trophy. During the interview, Jackson was asked directly if he thought his team was close to eventually winning a Super Bowl. “We’re extremely close,” Jackson said. “As I’ve been getting older in the league, my mindset has been different and the game has gotten a lot easier.” If the game truly has gotten easier for Jackson, that’s a scary thought for the rest of the league. During the interview, Jackson revealed that the first time he realized that the NFL might be easier than he thought came in Week 1 of the 2019 season when he threw for 324 yards and five touchdowns in a 59-10 win over the Dolphins. 
• The one thing Jackson has struggled with. The two-time MVP was asked what the most difficult thing about being in the NFL has been for him and he gave an interesting answer. “Just being a leader,” Jackson said. “Because I’m really not outspoken, being vocal with my guys, like let’s go out and do this with a big motivational speech. I don’t have that. I just pretty much lead by example. I’m gonna go out there, work hard and I expect that out of you. But as I’ve been growing in the league it’s like nah, you gotta talk to the guys. … Now I talk to them 1-on-1 but certain things I’m seeing I gotta voice it more, voice my opinion more to those guys.”

If you’ve never seen a “Cold as Balls” episode, the premise is pretty simple: Kevin Hart and a celebrity guest sit in a cold tub and have a fun conversation. The show is always entertaining, and if you want to see Jackson’s full interview, you can do that here.  

If you’re wondering what Ben Roethlisberger has been doing in retirement, the answer is that he has stayed busy by starting his own podcast. On the most recent episode, Big Ben started a big quarterback debate by saying that he would take Aaron Rodgers in his prime over current day Patrick Mahomes. 

• What Big Ben said. “Well, I would take Aaron in his prime over Patrick now,” the two-time Super Bowl winners said, via Yahoo. “I think Aaron Rodgers in his prime was one of the top few to ever do it — and so is Patrick Mahomes at his prime. Patrick Mahomes is just entering out of his prime, I think.”

So is Roethlisberger right or should we throw his opinion out the window? Jared Dubin decided to break down the numbers to see whether Rodgers in his prime was better than Mahomes is right now. 

The most shocking thing that Dubin found is that when you compare Rodgers’ best years (2010-16) to Mahomes’ career, they’re actually pretty similar. 

• TD passes: Mahomes leads 245-238 over Rodgers
• Completion percentage: Mahomes leads 66.6% to 66.5% over Rodgers
• Yards per attempt: Rodgers leads 7.96 to 7.75 over Mahomes
• QB rating: Rodgers leads 106.4 to 102.3 over Mahomes

Statistically, the numbers are similar, but Mahomes does have one major edge: He has had a lot more postseason success than Rodgers. If you want so see Dubin’s full breakdown of the Rodgers-Mahomes debate, we’ve got that here. 

Ben Roethlisberger says he’d take prime Aaron Rodgers over Patrick Mahomes: Is he right? A breakdown

Jared Dubin

4. Tom Brady finally explains his role with the Raiders

It was a wild weekend for Tom Brady. The seven-time Super Bowl winner was in Italy to attend the wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, and while he was there, he found some time to hang out with Sydney Sweeney, but we’re not here to talk about that. Nope, we’re here to talk about the fact that Brady finally clarified what his role is with the Raiders. 

• Brady seems to have some power in the organization. Last week, a report came out that the Raiders were thinking about making a play for Sam Darnold in free agency, but they didn’t make a move because Brady wasn’t “in favor” of adding Darnold. 
• So how much say does Brady have? During a recent interview with the team’s website, Brady, who owns a partial stake in the Raiders, was actually asked about his role with the team, and apparently, he’s just a sounding board for new head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek. “Well, I’m just a limited partner, so [Mark Davis] is the boss,” Brady said. “And then Pete does his job and Spy does his job and, I think, we trust them to make the right decisions. I’m there as a great sounding board for anything they want to do.”

When asked about Brady recently, Carroll said that his “presence is strong” and that the two talk all the time on the phone, which makes it sound like Brady might be slightly more than a ‘sounding board.

If you want to to check out Brady’s full comments, you can do that here. 

5. Eagles All-Quarter Century Team

The dead part of the offseason is here — although it’s not very dead right now thanks to the Steelers and Dolphins — but things aren’t going to get slow around these parts, because we’re going to be unveiling several All-Quarter Century teams. We’ve already gone through the teams for the Patriots and Cowboys, and today, we’re going to look at the best Eagles’ players over the past 25 years. 

With eight NFC Championship game appearances since 2000, the Eagles have arguably been one of the most successful NFC teams over the past two and a half decades, and they’ve had plenty of stars during that span. We put Jeff Kerr in charge of deciding which of those stars should be honored on Philadelphia’s All-Quarter Century team. 

Here’s a look at a few of the players who made Kerr’s list: 

QB: Jalen Hurts
RB: LeSean McCoy
RB: Saquon Barkley
WR: DeSean Jackson
WR: Terrell Owens
TE: Zach Ertz

Our Eagles All-Quarter Century Team features a total of 53 players, and if you want to see the full roster, you can do that here. 

6. Extra points: Veteran receiver wants to play for the Steelers

While not the busiest time in the NFL, there’s still a lot happening, so I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Tyler Boyd open to signing with the Steelers. If the Steelers are looking to add a receiver for Aaron Rodgers, Boyd definitely sounds interested in signing with Pittsburgh. The former Bengals receiver was asked if he’d like to end up with the Steelers and didn’t hesitate with his answer. “Absolutely,” Boyd told Pittsburgh Sports Now over the weekend. “You know, all my family is here. I’d be able to have the majority of them be able to support me.” You can check out Boyd’s full comments here. 
• 49ers cornerback arrested. Deommodore Lenoir was arrested in Los Angeles last week on a charge of obstruction of justice. We’ve got the full details of the arrest here. The 25-year-old Lenoir started in all 15 games that he played in for the 49ers last season. 
• No supplemental draft this year. According to The Athletic, the NFL will not be holding a supplemental draft this year, which shouldn’t be a huge surprise, because the league hasn’t held one since 2019. The supplemental draft has produced players like Cris Carter, Josh Gordon and Bernie Kosar, but it won’t be producing anyone this year. 

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Author: John Breech
June 30, 2025 | 1:20 pm

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