The Miami Dolphins have held voluntary organized team activities over the course of the past several weeks, all without cornerback Xavien Howard in attendance. Reports at the time indicated, however, that Howard’s absence was not necessarily due to his rumored desire for a new contract after a 10+ interception season with the team in 2020.
But sometimes the most logical explanation is where the truth lies.
Because as the Dolphins open up activities today for their mandatory mini-camp, there appears to be no sign of Xavien Howard. And this morning, Brian Flores confessed that he had not seen Howard in attendance for any of the team’s early morning sessions — although those were Zoom calls and players can get lost in the shuffle.
But as Flores spoke more on the situation, it is quite clear that the long-rumored dissatisfaction of Howard with his contract, a deal that is just two years old, not only has legs, but could be a hurdle the Dolphins must clear one way or another by the start of the season. And, most importantly, Flores admitted that we may not see Howard at all in Davie for mini-camp.
Brian Flores says he hasn’t seen star CB Xavien Howard today in meetings and not sure he’ll be here for mandatory minicamp.
“It’s pretty clear this is a contract situation, which we’ve talked about internally. We’ve had discussions and we’ll continue to have those discussions.”
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) June 15, 2021
The friction here appears to be rooted in Howard’s forward-facing pay from here — his annual average salary from the deal signed two years ago has him comfortably slotted in the top-10 in pay; but that is a poor reflection of Howard’s current financial status. The money Howard will receive this year clears just over $12M — a figure that sits outside the top-10 in cornerbacks for 2021 pay. His 2022 pay of $12.975M is 11th as things currently stand for 2022.
How the Dolphins choose to handle this situation will be fascinating because as Brian Flores said — this is a fairly unprecedented situation to be asking for a renegotiation on a contract after just two seasons (one of which Howard missed 11 games). But one thing is for certain: the mystery behind Howard and the Dolphins is gone; we’re officially in the danger zone.