Omar Kelly: Is Minkah Fitzpatrick happy about his return to Miami?

MIAMI — Either Minkah Fitzpatrick has nothing to say to the Miami Dolphins fan base he previously broke up with — if not abandoned — or he’s taking his sweet time to come up with exactly what to say about circling the block.

That’s the way I’ve processed the two days of delayed news conferences for the Dolphins’ old, but not new again starting free safety, whom Miami reacquired nearly six years after Fitzpatrick forced a trade to Pittsburgh.

One day of not making yourself available to the media is understandable, especially since the trade happened in late June and we haven’t heard a peep from Fitzpatrick, who is notorious for being quiet and sparingly uses social media.

A second day is suspicious, especially considering the way he left the franchise, running from the toxic environment the Dolphins had in that 2019 tank season, and possibly from then head coach Brian Flores, a complicated man, who has become infamous for not knowing how to communicate effectively.

Fitzpatrick was in Miami’s first wave of players who found Flores difficult to work with, so the Dolphins’ 2018 first-round pick exited stage left, demanding a trade, and getting moved to Pittsburgh for a 2020 first-round pick and a swap of late round picks a month into the regular season.

We’ve now waited 24 days and two press conferences to know how Fitzpatrick feels about returning to South Florida, which came as a result of a trade that sent cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith to Pittsburgh for Fitzpatrick, and a swap of late-round selections in 2026.

[Insert the sound of crickets]

Tua Tagovailoa, who spent one season with Fitzpatrick at the University of Alabama, shared a meal with Fitzpatrick on Sunday to discuss just that, and labeled it a “unique situation.”

“Minkah started out here. Going [to Pittsburgh] and coming back, I wasn’t sure how Minkah was going to feel about that given the prior scars he had from what the media portrayed happened behind the scenes. I just didn’t know where his head space was,” Tagovailoa said, stopping short of clarifying where Fitzpatrick’s head is.

“It’s [been] six, seven years since I’ve seen him. I’m a different person than I was at Alabama. He’s a different person than he was at Alabama,” Tagovailoa said. “[I] had to rekindle the fire of a relationship with him. I’m excited to have him.”

The one thing Tagovailoa knows for certain is that Fitzpatrick is the type of leader he aspired to be at Alabama. That’s who he looked up to during his early collegiate days, and he’s now excited to have that type of presence, and locker room influence on Miami’s defense.

“He is someone you can look at and say, ‘That’s the standard.’” Tagovailoa said. “I can’t put words to what that standard is, but I want to gravitate toward that person. That’s what Minkah gives off.”

But is Fitzpatrick giving off excitement about his new NFL assignment?

All head coach Mike McDaniel could clarify is that the Dolphins double-checked whether Fitzpatrick would welcome a trade to Miami before the Dolphins pulled the trigger on trade.

Clearly the Dolphins got the green light. But maybe there were conditioned placed on it?

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Fitzpatrick’s parents relocated to South Florida a while ago, and that’s where the family resides. His younger brother, Justice, is a four-star cornerback at Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, and is committed to the University of Georgia entering his senior season.

At least Fitzpatrick, whose wife gave birth to a child last year, has family around to make the transition easier.

“He’s another guy who doesn’t really talk much. He’s all about his business,” cornerback Kader Kohou said, describing his new teammate.

Oddly, it’s probably the business end of the NFL that might be leading to Fitzpatrick’s silence.

Players of his caliber typically don’t go into a regular season without guaranteed money on their contract, and that’s the situation Fitzpatrick finds himself in.

While he’s due $15.5 million this season, and under contract for $17.6 million in 2026, none of which is guaranteed. That means if Fitzpatrick suffers a season-ending injury today or tomorrow the Dolphins would be off the hook for at least the $17.6 million owed in 2026.

It’s a risky spot to be in, which is why Fitzpatrick’s team is likely pushing for a contract extension. But at what pay rate? He’s already making top end money for his position, and seeing as how he’s approaching 30, and the word on the NFL streets is that he’s lost a step [which hasn’t been verified], should the Dolphins pay top dollar for a former star whose shine is possibly fading?

I’ve made the point that it would be extremely irresponsible for the Dolphins to extend/restructure Fitzpatrick contract without seeing how he performs in training camp, and maybe the exhibition season. We don’t even know if he can deliver on Anthony Weaver’s vision for him yet.

Miami provides Fitzpatrick a fresh start, but at this point he shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than a rental.

He disliked the Dolphins culture previously, and demanded a trade. It’s quite possible history could repeat itself, especially in this tumultuous time for the franchise, where McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier enter this season on the NFL’s hottest seats.

The Dolphins need Fitzpatrick to become part of the solution, not the problem. He’s critical to the culture creation of this defense. So they might be stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to making sure he’s happy, content and possibly compensated.

Maybe getting that kind of reassurance will convince him to end his silence.

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