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Steelers' Cam Heyward reveals the conflicting nature of the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade
A blockbuster trade brought Dolphins All-Pro CB Jalen Ramsey and Pro Bowl TE Jonnu Smith to Pittsburgh — but the cost was heavy. A well-respected member of the Steelers defense, FS Minkah Fitzpatrick, has left the Steel City — and Cam Heyward shared his honest take on the "bittersweet" move.
On Tuesday's episode of Not Just Football with Cam Heyward, the veteran Steelers defender wasted little time addressing the Fitzpatrick-sized elephant in the room — revealing his conflicted reaction to news:
"The way we heard about it first, it was we traded for Jalen Ramsey — and we're like, 'Alright, that's cool,'' Heyward said. 'You got Minkah [Fitzpatrick], you got the DeShon [Elliott], you got Joey [Porter Jr.], you got [Darius] Slay, and now you have Jalen Ramsey, and you think, 'Dang, that's going to be really cool to see those DBs just fly around.'
'And then, I got the gut check of losing a really good teammate in Minkah Fitzpatrick, and I'm like, 'Dang, I don't know how to feel about this.' It's bittersweet. I've enjoyed playing with him, and I was kind of just shook by it all. … I'm excited about the new teammates, but I'm also sad to be losing a guy that I really respect in the locker room."
Many, including myself, felt the same way Heyward felt — as while acquiring talented players like Ramsey and Smith is exciting, losing Fitzpatrick so abruptly leaves a massive hole in the secondary.
The Steelers allegedly plan to use their trio of talented cornerbacks to replace Fitzpatrick on defense — but whether Pittsburgh chooses to address his departure in free agency remains to be seen.
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