Could the Dolphins trade Xavien Howard?

         Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

As it currently stands, the Miami Dolphins have one of the best groups of defensive backs in the NFL. Their move to sign former Cowboys CB Byron Jones on March 16 and make him, at the time, the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL was viewed as a home run addition to the defensive-minded Brian Flores led team.

It was also important to note, they would be pairing Jones with former Pro Bowl CB Xavien Howard, who the Dolphins had made the highest-paid CB in the NFL just a year prior. There’s no denying that the tandem of Jones and Howard looks tremendous on paper, but is it too early to assume that Howard will still be with the Dolphins come the season opener?

Howard was tremendous in 2018, finishing with 7 interceptions and a Pro Bowl selection. In 2019, Howard missed 11 games and underwent surgery on his knee. After the surgery, Howard was arrested on domestic battery charges.

It’s been just over a month since the Dolphins signed Byron Jones. Since then, we’ve seen Tom Brady sign with the Buccaneers, and we have seen Todd Gurley sign with the Falcons. The difference? Tampa Bay has been promoting the Brady signing with pictures of him with the deadly receiver duo of Evans and Godwin all across their social media pages. The Falcons Twitter page features photos of Gurley with elite receiver Julio Jones and quarterback Matt Ryan.

The Dolphins have two of the three highest paid CBs in the NFL, yet, fans haven’t seen the team promote them as a duo at all. Is it possible that the Dolphins don’t want to promote a player that they believe won’t be with the team in 2020? Maybe.

The amount of former-Patriots staff members that are now with Miami, lead to many comparisons between the Dolphins and Patriots. Many point to the fact that Stephon Gilmore was one of New England’s highest paid players “because they value defensive backs.” But, what if Byron Jones is Stephone Gilmore and Xavien Howard is Malcolm Butler.

Now, many know the story of Butler. He was developed through the Pats system. He was subbed in by Flores in the Super Bowl where he made an iconic interception to save the game. He continued to rise to the level of being a premier CB in all of football… but then his performance declined, and the team had a falling out with him that led to them going in a different direction.

The Patriots definitely valued defensive backs, but not to the extent of having two of the highest paid in the league on the roster. Maybe Miami shares the same sentiment.

As threatening as the pairing looks on paper, it still looks bizarre to see that much of the cap space go towards one position (about 15%). With the knee injuries, and the off the field issues with Howard, I would not be at all surprised if the team elects to trade him to move up in the draft, or acquire more picks.

There were rumors that the Dolphins had interest in trading up to the first overall pick to select Joe Burrow. They have the draft capital to make the trade, and the Bengals could show interest in acquiring Howard – who has gone 1 on 1 with their star receiver A.J. Green twice in his career. No team gave up more yards per pass (8.3) last year than the Bengals.

Even if the Dolphins elect to go a different route by drafting Tua Tagovailoa, the need to trade up could lead to Howard’s departure. Ahead of the Dolphins are the Redskins, Lions and Giants. In the last few months, the Redskins lost Josh Norman and Quinton Dunbar, the Lions lost Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs, and the Giants lost Janoris Jenkins. I don’t think it’s far fetched to say any of these teams might be interested in Howard.

Also, – Howard’s Instagram page no longer features any pictures of him in the team colors. Could that be a reach? Sure, but in todays social media age, we cannot downplay the possibility of it being telling of the situation. Just look at Stefon Diggs.

Lastly, the Dolphins held a virtual press conference over Zoom with their newly acquired free agent signings, including Byron Jones. During the press conference, Jones received several questions pertaining specifically to the duo of him and Howard. On each of the instances, Jones refused to mention Howard and instead alluded to the defense as a whole. Could that have just been a safe, media-trained response from Jones? Sure, but it was enough that it should be mentioned.

Now, the issue would be finding a suitor who is willing to take on Howard’s contract. The Dolphins would eat an enormous $20 million worth of dead money if they were to flat out cut him. If they were to trade him, Miami would have to eat $5 million and his new team would have to pay Howard’s $11,900,000 guaranteed salary for 2020. That is a huge price for a corner coming back from a season ending knee injury, but with the potential “out” in the contract after the 2021 season, that may make Howard appealing to a team that needs to win immediately.

As of now, it may be too early to speculate. Dolphins fans should still be excited over the possibility of having a “legion of boom”esque secondary – one of a level the team hasn’t had since Madison and Surtain roamed the field. There is no reason to believe that Howard’s performance would drop off from the high level that fans are accustomed to seeing.

Maybe the off-the-field issues with Howard has Miami refraining from promoting Howard, similar to the approach the Chiefs took with Tyreek Hill. Maybe Byron Jones just wanted to emphasize the entire defensive unit, and not just himself and Howard. Maybe Howard just wanted to clear up his Instagram.

No one really knows right now. I just know I would not be surprised if Xavien Howard is moved.