{"id":177860,"date":"2025-07-03T09:18:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/177860\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T09:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:18:12","slug":"ex-dolphins-tight-end-jonnu-smith-shares-real-reason-he-landed-with-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/177860\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Dolphins tight end Jonnu Smith shares real reason he landed with Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonnu Smith shared one of the main reasons behind Monday\u2019s blockbuster trade<\/a> that landed the former Miami Dolphins tight end with the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in a situation where I\u2019m appreciated,\u201d Smith said on The Terron Armstead Podcast<\/a> Wednesday evening, later adding that \u201cyou\u2019re always going to go where you\u2019re most valued and appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Smith commented that the trade was somewhat of a surprise and even \u201cstung\u201d a little bit considering his historic 2024 season. In just one year, the 29-year-old rewrote the Dolphins franchise history books at the tight end position. Specifically, he set new records for catches (88), receiving yards (884) and touchdowns (eight).<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I was in a position and one of the key ingredients to helping this team succeed and after the season ended, me and my agent, we like \u2018This a no brainer. We gone be here forever,\u2019\u201d Smith continued. The Pro Bowler even said that he began to look for a bigger house once the season ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of things positive that were working for me individually after the season for me to be in Miami long term \u2014 like even life after football,\u201d Smith added.<\/p>\n

The conversation about his compensation, according to Smith, began as soon as the season ended in January. Originally supposed to be paid around $4.8 million in 2025, the newly minted Pro Bowler wanted to be compensated like one of the top tight ends. And as one of the \u201ccharacter guys\u201d in the locker room, a necessity as the Dolphins attempted to change the culture after issues in 2024<\/a>, Smith simply thought the deal would get hammered out.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEventually it came a point and time when they told me they can\u2019t do it,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

To be clear: a source confirmed that Smith\u2019s trade had nothing to do with the team\u2019s attempts to institute a better culture. He, in fact, was one of the core guys that . It honestly just came down to money as the Steelers were able to give him a one-year deal worth roughly $12 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to make the decision to go where I\u2019m appreciated and viewed on paper, economically, contract-wise as a top guy in this league which I know I am,\u201d Smith said. \u201cPittsburgh was the team that saw me as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Smith: \u201cGoing through that process, I was hurt. I didn\u2019t think that collectively \u2014 as an organization, players, coaches \u2014 that [they believed] trading Jonnu Smith is where our success starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The conversation took place during the first episode of The Terron Armstead Podcast<\/a>, a new show helmed by the recently retired five-time Pro Bowl tackle. Armstead described the podcast as \u201cdifferent from any other sports show\u201d as he attempts to give fans an intimate look at how these huge trades affect the individuals involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to create a platform where we can have this type of dialogue to where we really can get a chance to hear and know the behind-the-scenes of trade talk,\u201d Armstead said.<\/p>\n

The Steelers\u2019 move to acquire Smith puts a lot of eyeballs on Pittsburgh as they seemingly will go all in on newly acquired quarterback Aaron Rodgers<\/a> and company. Other additions to the Steelers include receiver DK Metcalf as well as cornerbacks Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey, the latter of whom was part of the Smith trade that also sent safety Minkah Fitzpatrick back to Miami.<\/p>\n

How these moves play out will make the Steelers an intriguing team in 2025. Luckily, the Dolphins will have a front row seat come Week 15 as they travel to Pittsburgh for what will likely be a rather frigid, Monday Night Football matchup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonnu Smith shared one of the main reasons behind Monday\u2019s blockbuster trade that landed the former Miami Dolphins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[1586,9313,2870,217,7,1815,7470,216,251,2087,7583,6,57,9166,595],"class_list":{"0":"post-177860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-darius-slay","10":"tag-dk-metcalf","11":"tag-dolphins","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jalen-ramsey","14":"tag-jonnu-smith","15":"tag-miami","16":"tag-miami-dolphins","17":"tag-miamidolphins","18":"tag-minkah-fitzpatrick","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","21":"tag-pro-bowler","22":"tag-terron-armstead"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114788559004335125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}