After taking plenty of time to gush about the team’s two newest acquisitions, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged what the organization had to submit to get them.

Minkah Fitzpatrick was a first-team All-Pro safety during three of the six seasons he spent with the Steelers. But he was traded last month to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for three-time All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith.

Tomlin is excited to deploy the versatile talents of Ramsey and Smith to the Steelers’ defense and offense. But he said it was “very difficult” to jettison Fitzpatrick.

“His experience here, and the production that he gave us speaks for itself,” Tomlin said on reporting day for training camp at Saint Vincent on Wednesday in his first public comments since the trade. “But you’ve got to make tough choices, and obviously I’ve been talking glowingly about two top-notch players that we acquired. But that doesn’t lessen the impact of a player like Minkah.”

Speaking two hours earlier, general manager Omar Khan also opened up about the trade. Some have speculated the Steelers’ motivation for the move was as much (or in part) about Fitzpatrick’s declining production as it was about the desire to acquire Ramsey and Smith. Khan downplayed that angle.

“I don’t know if it was necessarily (about) moving on from Minkah,” Khan said. “We had an opportunity to acquire two Pro Bowl players that we felt that where we are as a team made sense for us. We have a lot of respect for Minkah. He was a great football player for a lot of years for us. We wish him the best, but it was really an opportunity acquire these two players that we think can help us.”

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