Dolphins Have Received Trade Inquiries For Xavien Howard, Including From Two Playoff Teams

According to Ian Rapoport, two playoff teams from last year have already reached out to the Dolphins about a potential trade for CB Xavien Howard. 

Rapoport adds those aren’t the only inquiries Miami has received about Howard, who formally requested a trade last night and outlined his issues with the team. 

The cornerback would have been fined $50,000 a day for holding out of training camp, but he reported on Tuesday. Rapoport says he was a full participant in practice on Wednesday. 

Howard has been interested in reworking his current five-year, $75 million deal that still has four years remaining, but the two sides have clearly not come close to an agreement.

Howard 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 performance to seek a raise. 

Howard, 28, 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.