After Miami obtained safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in an NFL trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers on June 30, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said on Wednesday that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had shared his first impression of his former Alabama teammate: “Who is this psychopath?”

“He told me his first on-field impression, which was hilarious,” McDaniel said. “As a freshman, they’re running gassers, and they’re gutted. And as a freshman, you have a bunch of peers, upperclassmen that you’re trying to prove yourself towards. And then Minkah, just this silent dude in meeting rooms, all of a sudden blacks out, starts talking about overtime and talking all sorts of — not a bad word — but stuff, all sorts of that, and pushing his entire team. And Tua was like: Who’s this psychopath? I fear him.

“First day on the job, before any practice. You got to condition to see where people are at, and it took one team moment for him to feel his impact. So that was a cool story because it was like one of his first memories as a college-football participant. They weren’t playing football. It was just conditioning. But I think it speaks to the type of impact that a player who reserves his work — he’s a soft-spoken guy — but he plays the game the way we envision playing it.”

Tagovailoa and Fitzpatrick were Crimson Tide teammates for one season. In Fitzpatrick’s final game at Alabama, Tagovailoa threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeVonta Smith to lift the Tide to a 26-23 overtime victory against Georgia in the CFP national-championship game on Jan. 8, 2018.

“I have so many good things to say about Minkah,” Tagovailoa said on Wednesday, “because when I was there my freshman year, that was his last year before we ended up parting ways when he entered the draft. But I have a lot of good things to say about him — the mentor in the way that he was for that locker room back in ’17, that ’17 year and ’18. I mean the leadership that he gives off, sort of the standard.

“I was talking to Mike about it, too. With Mink, there’s the standard and then there’s someone that you can look at and you can say, ‘That’s a standard.’ And I can’t put words to what that standard is, but I kind of want to gravitate towards that person, and I think that’s what Minkah gives off.”

The Dolphins obtained Fitzpatrick and a fifth-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft from Pittsburgh in exchange for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, tight end Jonnu Smith and a seventh-round selection in the 2027 NFL Draft.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin on Wednesday called trading Fitzpatrick “very difficult.”

“His experience here and the production that he gave us speaks for itself,” Tomlin said. “But you got to make tough choices, and, obviously, I’ve been speaking glowingly about two top-notch players that we acquired in that, but I don’t, obviously, lessen the impact of a player like Minkah.”

The trade returned Fitzpatrick to his original NFL team. After using the 11th choice in the 2018 NFL Draft to add Fitzpatrick, Miami sent the safety, a 2020 fourth-round pick and a 2021 seventh-round pick to Pittsburgh for first- and fifth-round picks in 2020 and a sixth-round pick in 2021 on Sept. 16, 2019.

Fitzpatrick earned the first of his five Pro Bowl selections that season. He also was a first-team All-Pro pick in 2019, an honor he would earn again in 2020 and 2022.

“I don’t know necessarily if it was moving on from Minkah,” Steelers general manager Omar Khan said on Wednesday. “We had an opportunity to acquire two Pro Bowl players that we felt with where we are as a team made sense for us. Have a lot of respect for Minkah. Minkah was a great football player for a few years for us.”

Tagovailoa said he was unsure if Fitzpatrick wanted to return to Miami after the acrimony associated with his departure.

“When we ended up getting Minkah,” Tagovailoa said, “I thought that was unique because Minkah started out here and then going there and then coming back. I just wasn’t sure how Minkah was going to feel about that given the prior scars that he had with what the media portrayed was happening behind the scenes. And then there’s just things that I didn’t know where his headspace was.

“Had lunch with him on Sunday, got to talk to him about a good amount of things. And it’s not catching up with me and (wide receiver Jaylen Waddle) because I’m on the opposite side of the ball, I only had him for one year and, I don’t know, it’s probably six, seven years that I’ve seen him. I’m a different person than I was in Alabama. He’s a different person than he was at Alabama, so just kind of getting to rekindle that fire of a relationship with him.

“But I’m excited. I’m excited to have him, and we’re going to see. I mean, we’re competing right now, so it’s good fun.”

The Dolphins held their first practice of training camp on Wednesday, and McDaniel said Fitzpatrick was glad to be there.

“Any sort of trade, you try to identify first and foremost that the player you’re receiving wants to play football for you,” McDaniel said. “… I’m elated to have added Minkah to the team because it’s an opportunity to have a player that I’ve been coaching off of and plays the position the way that we here want to play the position that he gets to actually play. It’s a real good fit based on his skill set both athletically and what he’s able to do with his transitions in the open field and then elite ball skills. And then leadership.

“The National Football League’s hard, especially when you’re a guy like Minkah that puts everything into it. And so there’s a lot of things that go on when you’re all in with a team and then your team changes. That being said, you’re a football first guy that wants to be around teammates that care about football and you’re driven to win and write your own story. Was very confident this would be a place that he would fit right in. Know a lot of Bama guys. Know a lot of guys in the NFL. So had a lot of foresight into what he was coming back to, and, shoot, he couldn’t get in the 29 jersey fast enough.”

Miami cornerback Kader Kohou said he’d already felt the difference Fitzpatrick can make.

“Minkah’s a baller, man,” Kohou said, “so he’s going to come in and ball. And he’s, like, a vet. Good leader, so we’re excited to have him here.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.