The Miami Dolphins have spent significant resources this offseason to upgrade their secondary — but a lingering subplot for Miami’s offseason was the ongoing status of cornerback Xavien Howard. Howard, who entered the 2019 season as the team’s best remaining talent after a significant roster purge, was lost for the year due to a knee injury — and then made headlines for all the wrong reasons after a domestic dispute with his fiancé in December had Howard facing domestic battery charges.
Those charges, which were dropped in February, left Howard to the jurisdiction of the league; which has taken steps to hold players accountable for inappropriate behavior off the field. But now a report seems to indicate that the Miami Dolphins will be with their standout defender for the start of the season.
Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post has reported that Howard will not be disciplined by the league, citing a league spokesperson.
Provided the league does not have a change of heart, the Dolphins will be set to sport one of the best cornerback pairings in all of football for Week 1 of the 2020 season — Howard along with new signee Byron Jones gives the Dolphins a physical duo to play press coverage and potentially allow Brian Flores’ physical defense to shine this season with many new faces. But, more importantly, the Dolphins will also be hoping Howard has made the changes in his life off the field to align himself to be in a more healthy place. While his football availability is a win for the Dolphins, it is much more important for Howard to better himself as a result of this incident.
Howard is due nearly $12M in salary this season for the Dolphins — but the team does have a reasonable out after the 2021 season that would result in less than $3M in dead cap if the team deemed it necessary to move on for Howard. Staying healthy and, more importantly, avoiding bad situations off the field, will go a long way in Miami maintaining a long-term relationship with the former Baylor product.