The Dolphins balked at trading Xavien Howard to the Ravens

The trade deadline ended up being non-eventful from a roster standpoint for the Dolphins. But as we all know, Tuesday, November 2 was far from boring.

The whole not trading for Deshaun Watson but Stephen Ross tried to make a collect call and talk with him the night before but somehow it didn’t happen thing certainly gave the trade deadline a whole new flavor for folks like you and me.

Another trade that didn’t happen that would have brought the house down was Xavien Howard to the Baltimore Ravens.

As per Ian Rapoport, the Ravens inquired with the Dolphins to see what it would take to land Howard in Baltimore but terms could never be agreed upon.

"Most notably, the Ravens made a run at Dolphins All-Pro cornerback Xavien Howard, sources say, aiming to add a marquee player to their secondary for the second half. That’s just one of the major deals they discussed.Yet Howard isn’t a Raven now for a variety of reasons. For one, Miami wanted premium picks for a player of Howard’s caliber, likely a first-rounder and more. To make that happen, Baltimore would have wanted the Dolphins to eat some of what’s left of Howard’s $13.785 million salary."

I can just imagine how the negotiations for Howard went. The Ravens call up Chris Grier, who was probably in the middle of completing a 500 piece puzzle, and say that they want Howard. Grier says Howard who and gets told that they’re asking about Xavien Howard. The Ravens say they’ll give the Dolphins a second-rounder and Grier’s brain immaterially thinks about how he can package that second-rounder and a 5th to move up 3 spots in the draft to take a left guard who has a 4th round grade. But then Grier remembers everything the Dolphins went through in the offseason to keep Howard in Miami and says that Howard is worth at least a 1st rounder. The Ravens, predictably, say that Howard hasn’t played like a 1st rounder and Grier hangs up the phone. I don’t think a more true version of the event will be released so it’s smart to go with this.

Obviously, it’s not surprising that Miami would hear calls about the availability of Xavien Howard. They’re 1-7 and Miami is falling. I suppose it’s nice to see that the Dolphins management are sort of looking towards next year even though it’s possible that none of them will be around for it.

Personally, I’m glad they didn’t move Howard. I would have understood it but I like when the team I like, once in a while, keeps a very good player that they drafted around longer than five years. I don’t know, doing that just feels normal.

Do you know who else is pumped that Xavien Howard is still in Miami?

That’s nice that Howard wants to continue living, predominantly, in Miami. I can’t really say I blame him.

As for today’s game, stay away from a betting standpoint. But, I’ll take the Dolphins to win by three 21-18 even with Tyrod Taylor coming back. Tua plays decent but still doesn’t throw the ball downfield and Waddle continues on his morphing into Jarvis Landry. I think the defense plays like they did last week at Buffalo and brings the house all game. Or, that’s at least how I would play it.