It wasn't long ago that Miami Dolphins' fans were hoping for a reunion with Xavien Howard. On Sunday, they will get what they wanted but just not the way they pictured it.
The Dolphins and Howard parted ways after the 2023 season. The former second-round Pro Bowler spent last year out of the league. On Sunday, he figures to start for a Colts secondary that endured some brutal injuries during the preseason.
Indianapolis signed Howard earlier in training camp and declared him the starting boundary corner against the Dolphins.
Dolphins' reunion with Xavien Howard has fun written all over it
This week is going to be fun. Howard will line up against Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle. Many have questioned how much Howard has regressed over the last two seasons. During the 2023 season, Howard was banged up and clearly wasn't the same player he was in the seasons before.
His contract did not represent the production on the field, and it was terminated as a post-June first move. Miami still carries $15 million in dead cap on that contract.
If Howard has indeed lost a step, Dolphins fans will see it firsthand this week when they watch him cover the Dolphins' top receivers, who possess a lot more speed than Howard. The Colts will likely play a two-deep safety defense to keep Miami's receivers up front, but even that may give Howard problems with the shifty play of both Hill and Waddle.
What makes this more interesting is the fact that many fans believed that Howard should have returned to the Dolphins this offseason. A year removed from the rigors of the NFL allowed his body to recover. Miami absolutely needed help at the position, given the departure of Jalen Ramsey, but it has been suggested that Howard, too, was part of a locker room identity problem.
The Dolphins will kick off against the Colts at 1 p.m. ET. and it won't take long for the former player to square off against the team he had spent his entire NFL career with.