Fantasy Football Value For Jonnu Smith, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle After Blockbuster Trade

Michael Fabiano | Jun 30, 2025

New Steelers TE Jonnu Smith posted career highs across the board for the Miami Dolphins last season. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

A blockbuster NFL trade … in late June? That’s right! And it has big fantasy implications.

The Miami Dolphins have traded CB Jalen Ramsey, TE Jonnu Smith and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for S Minkah Fitzpatrick and a 2027 fifth-round pick. While the biggest names are defenders, trading Smith has major fantasy implications.

Let’s dive in, starting with the Dolphins.

Smith was surprisingly second on the team in targets a season ago, averaging 6.5 per game. In his absence, there’s a good bet that Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle will both see a bigger target share in 2025. Their targets dropped significantly with Smith in the offense, but each should see a bump with Smith gone and no other threat for opportunities at tight end. At this point, Miami’s best starting options at the position are Pharoah Brown and Julian Hill.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michael Fabiano (@michael_fabiano_)

Does this mean Hill will re-emerge into an elite fantasy wideout? I’m not so sure about that, as some of his important metrics fell last season … but an increase in targets certainly won’t hurt. The same goes for Waddle, who could push back into the WR2 conversation. Smith’s departure should also give Nick Westbrook-Ikhine more opportunities in the pass attack, though I still don’t see him being worth more than a late flier in most drafts.

In Pittsburgh, Smith will be reunited with his former coach and current Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Jonnu was the No. 4 tight end in fantasy last season, scoring a career-high 222.3 PPR points. However, he did most of his damage in the second half.

Over the first 10 weeks, Smith was the TE16 and averaged a nondescript 8.2 points per game. He went off after that, leading all tight ends with 148.7 points. That stretch of eight games included five with 19-plus fantasy points. That wasn’t going to happen again with the Dolphins, and it’s unlikely to happen with the Steelers too. However, I don’t think this deal is a total deathblow to Smith’s fantasy value … it hurts, but it won’t completely kill it.

Remember, Smith knows how to utilize the talented tight end and he’s likely a big reason for the move. Jonnu isn’t your typical tight end, either. He ran 46 percent of his routes out of the slot last season, and he led all tight ends in routes run on the outside (23.8 percent).

In terms of lining up inline, Smith was 41st among tight ends … that’s because he’s more of a pass catcher than a blocker. That won’t change in Pittsburgh. Also, name me the Steelers No. 2 wideout behind DK Metcalf? It’s a mish mash of Robert Woods and Roman Wilson. I would guess Smith will see far more targets than either of those two receivers in 2025.

Calvin Austin III is also in the mix, but he could be hurt most by Smith since he runs most of his routes out of the slot. Also keep in mind that Arthur Smith ran 12 personnel 290 times last season (11th-most in the league). With Jonnu and Pat Freiermuth now on the roster, that will increase … especially with Jonnu being able to line up wide out on the perimeter.

I’m not saying this move won’t hurt Jonnu and Freiermuth’s individual value, because it will. They’re both TE2s in fantasy leagues, and consistency could be an issue to both of them. But Jonnu Smith is super versatile, and Arthur Smith is going to find ways to get him on the field and used as a pass catcher, especially since the Steelers don’t have a strong No. 2 wideout.