The Dolphins traded disgruntled former All Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, parting ways with one of their most accomplished players, just nine months after giving him a lucrative contract extension.
The parties involved were not saying what Miami would receive in return.
As part of the trade, Ramsey will get a $1.5 million raise this season, increasing his salary to $26.6 million. He announced the trade on social media.
The seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback never publicly explained why he wanted out of Miami but gave a strong hint when he posted a photo of rotten oranges on the first night of the NFL Draft, alongside a caption that read as an indictment of the Dolphins organization.
“Who you surround yourself with matters,” the first part of the caption read, followed by a short inscription underneath the picture that said “If you surround yourself with people who are okay with mediocre, you too will start to be okay with it... surround yourself with people who desire GREATNESS!”
In previous media sessions this spring, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has characterized Ramsey’s departure as a mutual decision. Grier said on April 15 that “we’ve decided that it was probably in the best interest for all parties to move forward.
“I will say, these decisions aren’t done quickly and they’re not taken lightly because we spent a lot of time this offseason working through this, talking through things,” Grier added. “At the end of the day, Jalen did not ask for a trade. So we went through the process and just felt that after numerous conversations and then talking last week with Jalen and his agent that it was best to move forward and it was the best interest of the Miami Dolphins and for Jalen Ramsey.”
If Ramsey hadn’t been traded, his Dolphins cap hit this season would have been $16.7 million.
Instead, his 2025 dead money cap hit on the Dolphins’ books will be $6.7 million, leaving Miami with $24 million in cap space. That money can be carried over to next offseason if the Dolphins don’t use it all this season. Ramsey will have another $18 million in dead money on Miami’s 2026 books.
Had Ramsey been traded before June 1, his 2025 dead money Dolphins cap hit would have been $25 million.
The Dolphins are expected to use some of that additional cap space to sign at least one veteran cornerback.
Aside from nickel cornerback Kader Kohou, the Dolphins don’t have a proven starting cornerback on their team.
Their other corners under contract: former second-round pick Cam Smith (a disappointment so far), Storm Duck (who made the team as an undrafted rookie last season), Kendall Sheffield (who signed recently after a weekend tryout but hasn’t started a game since 2020), rookie fifth-rounder Jason Marshall Jr., undrafted rookies BJ Adams (from UCF) and Ethan Robinson (Minnesota), Ryan Cooper Jr. (a former Ohio State standout), Artie Burns (a former Miami Hurricanes standout who played 51 defensive snaps for Seattle last year), second-year player Isaiah Johnson and Ethan Bonner, who played just 16 defensive snaps last season and 27 over two years.
The Dolphins have maintained contract with veteran free agent cornerback Rasul Douglas, who rejected a Miami offer earlier in May. Douglas started 15 games for the Bills this season.
They’ve also inquired about former Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas standout and ex-Chargers free agent cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., a free agent who’s recovering from neck surgery. He expects to be able to play this season.
They told another free agent cornerback that they wanted clarity on Ramsey before moving forward.
Other established cornerbacks still unsigned include James Bradberry, Stephon Gilmore, Mike Hilton and C.J Henderson.
Ramsey, 30, has played for the Jaguars (who selected him fifth overall out of FSU in 2016), Rams and Dolphins during a nine-year career.
But he became disgruntled in Jacksonville and was traded to the Rams in October 2019. In March of 2023, the Rams shipped him to Miami for a third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long.
Ramsey sustained a torn meniscus during his first Dolphins training camp and made his Dolphins debut on Oct. 28 of that 2024 season. Last year, he was ranked 25th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 player list.
Last September, the Dolphins signed Ramsey to a three–year, $72.3 million contract extension that included $24.3 million guaranteed upon signing, making him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL.
He has a $24.3 million guaranteed salary this season, and it wasn’t immediately known how much of that, if any, would be paid by the Dolphins and how much will be paid by his new team.
Ramsey -- who was a first-team All Pro in 2017, 2020 and 2021 -- finished his Dolphins career with 82 tackles, five interceptions and a sack in 27 games, all starts. He made the Pro Bowl in his first of two seasons in Miami.