Miami Dolphins and Xavien Howard situations won’t end soon
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins don’t want to lose Xavien Howard but he doesn’t want to play without a new contract. This will not end soon.
Xavien Howard believes that he holds all the cards but it really is the Miami Dolphins who can for all intent and purpose, hold Howard accountable to his contract whether he likes it or not. There are NFL rules in place that help the Dolphins in this case.
Howard has yet to tell the team he wants to be traded, yet, but that is likely coming. There were rumors in October ahead of the traded deadline that Howard was willing to accept a trade barring a new contract back then. Now, having already skipped mandatory camps, Howard thinks that he can hold out and force the Dolphins’ hand.
That really isn’t the case and if the Dolphins adamantly want to play hardball, they absolutely can and it would be expensive for Howard. Under NFL rules, a player that is not playing under his rookie contract can be fined $50,000 per day during a holdout and the team can NOT waive those fines. In other words, Miami can simply sit back and let him keep himself away, and eventually, he will need to decide if he wants to play or he wants to say forget it and sit out the year.
This is what LeVeon Bell did to the Pittsburgh Steelers when he did not get a new contract. He sat out all year and it cost him a fortune, money he never made back a year later when he signed with the Jets. Now, Howard is in a similar situation.
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If Howard wants a trade, the Dolphins could give him permission to seek one but it will come with the caveat that Miami may have an idea of compensation and if they can’t get what they want, no deal will happen. Howard has no control over that.
The only thing that Howard can do is sit out and not play. He could show up on the last day of camp and play but the Dolphins might be leery of him faking a knee injury that would keep him out of games and still get him paid. That, however, would not do well for Howard who wants a bigger contract. So, back to Miami holding the cards.
The best thing Howard could do is report to the Dolphins in July with the team and play out this season and then in 2022, approach the team about restructuring his deal. Howard doesn’t have much leverage this year but if Miami find success on defense without him should he not play, his value is going to drop more.