Dolphins give Xavien Howard big 5 year extension to make him happy

Xavien Howard has a new contract with the Miami Dolphins and it pays him a lot of new money to keep him happy and from potentially holding out again.

Howard is one of the best corner backs in the league but he is pushing 30 years old and after two quasi-holdouts already in his career, maybe this will be the final contract that he tries to get changed. According to reports that surfaced earlier in the off-season, Howard was told the Dolphins would negotiate a new deal with him this season. If that is true, they kept their word.

At some point, Howard’s play on the field is going to decline and that time is coming a lot sooner than Dolphins fans would want to see. Now, he is going to eat cap space for the next few years on a brand new 5 year deal that will pay him over $50 million.

According to Josina Anderson, the deal has a lot of new money.

It is too early to know how the contract is structured but if there is anything we know about Chris Grier, he has an out after a year or two. The NFL salary cap is expected to balloon after this season so Grier and more specifically, Brandon Shore are doing a good job of structuring these deals, so far.

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The Dolphins and Howard should, one would think, are done with negotiations for the foreseeable future and in reality, this should be Howard’s last contract with the team. If he stays the full 5 years, he will be 35 years old and it is hard to imagine that his play will still be at a high level.

With Howard staying on board, it should end all the trade speculation that has been hounding the rumor mill for months. Howard will allow Miami to maintain one of the top defensive units in the NFL alongside Byron Jones and a bevy of up and coming youth.