Tag: Xavien Howard

No, the Dolphins shouldn’t consider trading CB Xavien Howard

No, the Dolphins shouldn’t consider trading CB Xavien Howard

The Miami Dolphins have a potential pair of lockdown corners. The last time we could honestly say that would bring us back to the days of Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain in the secondary — so these are exciting times for Dolphins fans eager to recapture some of that former defensive glory. All we’re missing are a few Zack Thomases and Jason Taylors and we’re all set! But with Miami’s lockdown duo comes a lot of cost — mainly in cap space and guaranteed cash.

Because when the Dolphins inked CB Byron Jones to a contract in March, the team did so by making him the highest paid cornerback in football. That deal has since been surpassed by CB Darius Slay of the Philadelphia Eagles. But nevertheless, Jones now sits as the NFL’s #2 highest paid cornerback. Behind him? Dolphins CB Xavien Howard, who signed his new contract last summer with the Dolphins in a deal that made him the NFL’s highest paid corner.

With all that money wrapped up in cornerbacks, some Dolphins fans have understandable asked whether or not Howard is aligning to undergo the same fate of several of his former teammates and see himself traded this offseason to a different team.

The case to do so is centered around two things: the money the Dolphins are paying him and the persistent knee issues he’s been combating ever since he came into the league. Howard missed the vast majority of 2019 on account of knee issues, which is the third season we’ve seen such issues arise. But this Dolphins regime signed Howard’s deal. This Dolphins regime is the one that prioritized adding Jones to a roster that already had Xavien Howard on it — this pairing together was clearly part of the vision.

This team should see this through and stay committed to the duo. There are no long-term cap ramifications of keeping Howard on the roster, either. Yes, he’s costly. But Miami structured his contract to align most of his guaranteed salary cap to come off the board within the first two seasons of the deal. If Howard were to play in Miami in 2020 and flop, the Dolphins could trade or cut Howard next offseason for $6.7M in dead cap space in 2021. Lets (of course) hope there’s no flop.

Howard pairing with Jones gives the Dolphins a duo of physical press man cornerbacks — a tag team that will be worth the price if they’re both able to stay healthy. Remember, these aren’t the 2019 Miami Dolphins, who shuttled away anyone of value. These are the 2020 Miami Dolphins, who apparently want to be aggressive in everything they do. And that includes playing press coverage on the outside.

Howard has a role to play for these Dolphins.

Darius Slay now the highest-paid CB in NFL ahead of Dolphins Byron Jones

Darius Slay now the highest-paid CB in NFL ahead of Dolphins Byron Jones

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The Philadelphia Eagles got their man, trading for Lions star cornerback Darius Slay.

The numbers are in and the Eagles now have the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL after agreeing to a 3-year, $50 million extension with Slay.

That number now makes Slay the highest paid in the NFL over the guy that just spurned the Eagles in free agency, Byron Jones.

Jones got almost $90 million from the Dolphins, but in regards to average per year, Slay is the highest-paid now at $16.67 million per Over The Cap.

Slay is now the highest-paid cornerback based on the new money average. Jones’ deal does pay him $18 million per season over the first 3 years, but it still averages out to $16.5 million per overall.

Dolphins CB Xavien Howard sees domestic battery charges dropped

Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard was scheduled for arraignment yesterday for his domestic battery charge, but the charges were dropped.

Thursday morning served as a big day for Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard, who was scheduled for arraignment in relation to a late December domestic battery charge. The incident, which involved his fiancé and came just hours after the Dolphins successfully defeated the New England Patriots to end their season on a high note, reportedly involved Howard grabbing his fiancé and pushing her into a wall, causing a fall.

But there’s no case to be made, because Howard’s fiancé signed an affidavit of non-prosecution before telling prosecutors she didn’t want to continue the case or press charges, according to the Broward County state’s attorney’s office via Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.

But while we are seeing the door close on Howard’s legal charges, he’s certainly not out of the woods yet. Most importantly, whatever is going on in the Howard household needs to find healthier resolutions — or else run the risk of seeing further unacceptable spring up in the future. But Howard will still potentially need to answer to the NFL for his conduct in late December — there’s still a possibility that after the league investigates the facts that a suspension is handed down for Howard from Roger Goodell.

But for now, Howard can put the legal issues behind him and move forward with his rehabilitation of 2019 knee surgery and his focus on football — and a healthy home.

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Dolphins CB Xavien Howard cleared of domestic battery charge (Dolphinswire)

Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard was cleared of a domestic battery charge on Thursday, his attorney tells the Palm Beach Post.

Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard was cleared of a domestic battery charge on Thursday, his attorney tells the Palm Beach Post.

Alleged 911 audio prior to Dolphins CB Xavien Howard’s arrest released

Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard was arrested in late December on domestic violence charges. The 911 audio has been released.

Just as the Miami Dolphins’ 2019 season was coming to a close, one of the team’s few star players found himself in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. In the aftermath of Miami’s upset win over the New England Patriots in Week 17, cornerback Xavien Howard was arrested and charged with domestic battery.

His arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow.

And now, via Andy Slater of South Florida’s Fox Sports 640, the alleged 9-1-1 audio from the incident that landed Howard in jail in late December has been leaked.

On the alleged call, Howard’s fiancé mentions that this is not the first time Howard has gotten physical in confrontations with her and that past confrontations had Howard directing her to not contact police because of his status as a football player.

Due process is required here in order to get to the facts of the situation — but if the presented information turns out to be true, it’s a terrible situation for Howard. And if Howard indeed is guilty of the allegations leveed against him, the Dolphins will need to do some significant soul searching to determine what level of tolerance they’re going to choose to display regarding such significant off-field conduct.

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Dolphins CB Xavien Howard reportedly arrested for domestic battery

ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe is reporting that CB Xavien Howard was arrested last night for domestic battery.

ESPN’s Miami Dolphins beat reporter Cameron Wolfe is reporting that Miami’s star cornerback, Xavien Howard, was arrested late last night by the Davie Police Department for domestic battery.

Howard  recently underwent knee surgery a few months after Miami placed him on the injured reserve list — playing in only a handful of games this season — and was recently signed to a sizable contract extension this past summer. Howard’s 5-year, $76.5M contract extension made him the highest paid cornerback in the NFL at the time of the signing. Furthermore, the Dolphins have generally regarded Howard as one of the centerpieces of Miami’s roster moving forward.

This is a developing story, so more information is needed before the potential ramifications of Howard’s incident are more clear. But no matter the details, this is a bad look for Howard and will be a situation the Dolphins will need to monitor in the coming days before deciding what kind of disciplinary actions are called for.

Stay tuned for more details on this story as they arise.

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Xavien Howard’s surgery highlights Dolphins foresight with contract

Cornerback Xavien Howard has undergone knee surgery and worries about his long-term health have many looking to the Dolphins’ extension.

The Miami Dolphins haven’t had the season they’ve wanted on a lot of fronts. One of the more disappointing developments of the year is the injury to cornerback Xavien Howard, who will finish the season with just 5 games played and one interception — numbers that pale in comparison to the two year production spurt Miami witnessed from their young defender.

It was that very same production spurt that prompted the Dolphins to ante up on Howard, giving him a 5-year, $75M contract extension over this past summer. And while Howard’s recent knee procedure certainly doesn’t make a certain ending or doom for his career, it at least does force Miami to look ahead at the longevity of Howard as a football player.

And when considering Howard’s recent extension and the questions about his long-term health, one thing is clear — the Dolphins knew what they were doing with this contract.

Howard’s deal provided the cornerback with the highest point of actual cash in 2019, when the Dolphins would be facing the prospect of minimal contract commitments. And Miami has structured Howard’s contract so that in just two more years, Howard’s dead cap figure for a potential cut is $2.8M.

Yes, you read that right. The Dolphins structured a 5-year, $75M contract as such that Miami could cut ties with Howard after the 2021 season (two more years) and have nothing red against their books except for $2.8M in dead cap space. This is the kind of contract structure that serves as a departure from how Mike Tannenbaum handled the cap and should be applauded. Of course, if Tannenbaum were still here, Miami probably wouldn’t have the cap space to try to extend Howard to begin with and would be facing the prospect of restructuring another contract to create the needed cap room to get a deal done — while deferring the guaranteed cash commitments to his new deal to three or four years from now so that Miami would actually be paying for Howard’s peak production several years after the fact.

Of course, the hope on all sides is that Howard’s knee bounces back and the corner is able to play out the entirety of his deal (and a third one) in Miami. But just in case the knee issues engulf Howard’s young and promising career, the Dolphins are prepared to handle that thanks to the gift of foresight and wise contract structuring.

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