The standoff between the Miami Dolphins and All-Pro cornerback Xavien Howard has reached a state of détente. On Sunday, Howard received the additional contractual considerations he sought — per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Howard gets $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses and $100,000 in roster bonuses moved to his contract as guaranteed, and his total for 2022 of $12.975 million is injury guaranteed with conversion to fully guaranteed the first day of the league year. With that, Howard ends his issues with the team, and the team retains the services of one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks.
On May 9, 2019, the Dolphins Howard to a five- year, $75.25 million contract extension. It was a pre-emptively smart move to retain the former second-round pick from Baylor, who had a 2018 season in which he allowed 29 receptions on 58 targets for 469 yards, 190 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, seven interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 62.6. Howard played just five games in 2019, but in 2020, he made himself into one of the NFL’s most dominant pass defenders, allowing 47 catches on 90 targets for 695 yards, 294 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, and a league-high 10 interceptions. From Howard’s rookie season of 2016 through 2020, only Marcus Peters has more interceptions (23) than Howard’s 22, and Howard has allowed a career opponent passer rating of 66.7 to Peters’ 75.7.
Howard’s contract considerations are believed to be virtually unprecedented for a player in the early stages of such a deal. The complication occurred when the Dolphins signed former Cowboys cornerback Byron Jones to a five-year, $82.5 million contract in March, 2020. Now, Jones had the most total money of any Dolphins cornerback, though the guarantees were similar.
In 2020, Jones allowed 40 catches on 61 targets for 683 yards, 290 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 117.0. Moral of the story: If you’re going to outstrip the contract of your best cornerback to bring on another cornerback who is not as good, you can expect some blowback. Howard was the team’s best pass defender in the dark days of the Adam Gase administration, and he was the team’s best pass defender when the new group, led by head coach Brian Flores, came in and implemented more aggressive and challenging coverage concepts.
“I talk to ‘X’ pretty much every day,” Flores said Friday. “I think every conversation is productive. We’ve gotten into specifics of X’s and O’s, contract, things of that nature. I think they’ve been productive. Like I said last week, I think we’re moving in the right direction and we’ll just continue to keep talking to him and his representation. Again, I think we think these – we want these things to happen quickly. We want them to happen right now. But some things take time and we’ll work through it and hopefully come to the best resolution for all sides.”
Flores knows that his defense isn’t nearly the same without Howard, in multiple ways.
