‘A Lot Of Trade Chatter’ Involving Dolphins CB Xavien Howard

Mike Silver reports that there’s currently “a lot of trade chatter” regarding Dolphins CB Xavien Howard, who is unhappy with his contract.

According to Silver, Howard wants an improved deal following his 2020 season, which included him leading the league in interceptions with 10. However, Silver says he’s unlikely to get a new contract from the Dolphins.

As for what it would take to acquire Howard, Silver mentions that it will likely require at least a first-round pick on top of paying Howard a new contract.

Silver adds that there are “several” teams in win-now mode considering potential deals for Howard. However, if no team steps up to meet the Dolphins’ asking price, Howard could attempt to force the issue by holding out of training camp, even though he would be subject to $50,000 per day fines.

It’s worth mentioning that Howard skipped mandatory minicamp earlier this summer. 

Howard just signed an extension in 2019 that at the time made him the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback at just over $15 million a year.

Since then, however, five other players have jumped past Howard, including fellow Dolphins CB Byron Jones, and the current bar is $20 million a year for Rams CB Jalen Ramsey. 

Howard has been a legitimate candidate for defensive player of the year the past two seasons and is using that leverage to seek a raise. 

It’s worth mentioning Howard’s name cropped up in trade rumors around the deadline last year but Miami was asking for the moon in a similar package to what they dealt LT Laremy Tunsil. 

Howard, 27, is a former second-round pick of the Dolphins back in 2016. He was in the final year of his four-year, $6,128,038 rookie deal and set to make a base salary of $1,285,641 for the 2019 season when he agreed to a five-year, $76.5 million extension that included $46 million guaranteed with Miami.

Howard is set to make base salaries of $12.075 and $12.375 million over the next two seasons. 

In 2020, Howard appeared in all 16 games for the Dolphins and recorded 51 tackles, one forced fumble, 10 interceptions and 20 pass defenses. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 2 corner out of 121 qualifying players. 

We’ll have more on Howard as the news is available.