Rumors of an Xavien Howard Holdout

[masterfins]

He wouldn't sit out the season, just the maximum number of games to have it still count as a contract year. However, even that is very unlikely because he would still have 3 years left on his deal. He isn't going to do that every year and cost himself tens of millions. He has no leverage, just an agent who wants to get paid. We will work something out next offseason if he is DPOY again, but even that will be on our terms.

That's what everyone thought about Le'veon Bell, yet he ruined his career by sitting out the full year and forcing a trade to the lowly Jets.  If Howard is dumb enough to do this then I say good riddance.  Let him sit out a year and lose $15M, then he can be traded to some lowly team and never get another meaningful contract. 

[masterfins]

NFL Network's Mike Silver reports "there's a lot of trade chatter concerning" Dolphins CB Xavien Howard.



Anything less than the Tunsil package and it's a No from me, not like I have a say. We have all the leverage because he is under contract for 4 more years, this isn't his walk year. A 1st rounder and "more" for the DPOY? Absolutely not. Two 1st rounders and then some. Keep in mind, the teams willing to pay this much for one player are probably close to contending right now, teams like the Jaguars and Giants won't be doing this trade, so their draft picks will be in the later rounds. I doubt we get as lucky as we did with Houston collapsing again.

That's just pie in the sky thinking.  Miami would be lucky to get one 1st rounder for him given his age and injury history.  If he's not on the field at the start of the season he'll never wear a Miami uniform again.

[EDGECRUSHER]

That's what everyone thought about Le'veon Bell, yet he ruined his career by sitting out the full year and forcing a trade to the lowly Jets.  If Howard is dumb enough to do this then I say good riddance.  Let him sit out a year and lose $15M, then he can be traded to some lowly team and never get another meaningful contract. 

Leveon Bell had one year remaining, Xavien has 4. He won't risk missing out on at least half his pay by sitting out 7-8 games a year for more than one year, and even one is pushing it since no one wants to give a malcontent with bad knees a record breaking deal. He has no leverage and he knows that.

As far as his value goes, despite not winning the award, he was the DPOY. A good team with a desperate need at corner would give good value, it remains to be seen what that is but one 1st rounder ain't cutting it and not if you throw in a 4th either. Our rebuild is over, no need to sacrifice the present for the future anymore.

[Spider-Dan]

Bell did not have "1 year remaining."  He completed his contract and refused to sign the franchise tag, sitting out for the entire year rather than sign it.  He was not traded to the Jets; they signed him as a free agent.

Xavien's situation is not comparable to Bell's, at all.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Bell did not have "1 year remaining."  He completed his contract and refused to sign the franchise tag, sitting out for the entire year rather than sign it.  He was not traded to the Jets; they signed him as a free agent.

Xavien's situation is not comparable to Bell's, at all.

Oops, you're right. I thought I knew that too.

No amount of sitting will get Xavien out of his contract. Best he can do is sit out whatever the maximum number of games he can sit out and still have his contract toll, I believe it is 7. Of course, he doesn't get paid for those and has fines on top of that and is he going to do that for 4 years when his dispute is all financial? He has absolutely no leverage because he just signed a massive extension.

All he can do is hope Miami agrees to rework his deal for some more guaranteed money, wait until next offseason and see if it can be done then(the likeliest option), or sit out and hope Noah falls flat on his face and forces Miami's hand.

[masterfins]

Bell did not have "1 year remaining."  He completed his contract and refused to sign the franchise tag, sitting out for the entire year rather than sign it.  He was not traded to the Jets; they signed him as a free agent.

Xavien's situation is not comparable to Bell's, at all.

Well Bell refused a reported $70M, 5 yr contract, with $33M guaranteed from the Steelers.  He ended up losing a year of pay, then was paid $27M by the Jets for two years, and $1M by the Chiefs last year, for $28M over three years.  If he had signed the Steelers contract, at a minimum he would have made $5M more, plus probably would have had an extra season in there earning another $14M; so his hubris cost him almost $20M.

The contract terms might not be the same, but Xavien is heading down the same path as Bell.  If he sits this year he will lose $12M, gain a reputation in the league for being a malcontent, piss off Flores so he doesn't even want him on the team, and risk ending up on a crappy team where is career will come to an early end (because SB coaches don't want troublesome players on their roster).

[EDGECRUSHER]

Well Bell refused a reported $70M, 5 yr contract, with $33M guaranteed from the Steelers.  He ended up losing a year of pay, then was paid $27M by the Jets for two years, and $1M by the Chiefs last year, for $28M over three years.  If he had signed the Steelers contract, at a minimum he would have made $5M more, plus probably would have had an extra season in there earning another $14M; so his hubris cost him almost $20M.

The contract terms might not be the same, but Xavien is heading down the same path as Bell.  If he sits this year he will lose $12M, gain a reputation in the league for being a malcontent, piss off Flores so he doesn't even want him on the team, and risk ending up on a crappy team where is career will come to an early end (because SB coaches don't want troublesome players on their roster).

There are some similarities but in terms of where they are and were, it is very different. Bell sat out one year to gain his freedom. It was insanely stupid at the time an even worse in hindsight, but it worked. Howard needs to sit out half the season for four straight seasons. It's just not going to happen, no matter how much his agent tells him stupid ideas. He just has to play out the year again, be a beast and Miami will buckle a bit.

[CF DolFan]

Dave Hyde is loudly arguing for keeping him. I fall into a similar camp seeing as we need to win something THIS season.


Hyde: Hey Dolphins, don’t trade Xavien Howard — no matter how many rumors swirl | Commentary
By DAVE HYDE

There are two reasons to make a trade. One is to get a player you want. The other is to get rid of a player you don’t.

Trading Xavien Howard in the manner a rumor du jour has it would reinforce a third reason the Miami Dolphins created in trading Minkah Fitzpatrick: Getting rid of a great player who simply doesn’t want you.

If I run the Dolphins, I don’t trade Howard. I don’t like all the trade rumors, but don’t care the national media is just picking up on a boiling local story for months.

Howard isn’t happy. That’s the story. He’s not happy teammate Byron Jones makes more money than him. He’s not happy the defense is built around him and he’s no longer paid that way. He’s not happy on cornerback island — again, if he’s not paid for it.

Get the money-signed picture?

So nothing has changed since he sat out June practices except the trade rumors have started from every direction. Arizona reportedly wants him — and Bleacher Report proposed second- and fifth-round picks and linebacker Jordan Hicks. New Orleans wants in, too, according to The Athletic. Philadelphia and Cleveland? They’re reportedly interested as well.

The question about every trade is how they replace a star at an impact position to help win now. Howard had a career year last season. Ten interceptions? Locked against the opponent’s top receiver?

That’s the No. 1 reason the Dolphins defense ranked seventh in the league. It’s the first thought as to why they surprised everyone with 10 wins.

The Dolphins led the league with 29 takeaways and 18 interceptions. Howard’s impact towers over those numbers. It was the most impactful defensive performance in the league — the best by a Dolphins cornerback ever.

You don’t trade that. Not now. The case for trading Howard was two years ago at the start of this rebuild. His talent, big money and injury history made him a risky long-term play on a team playing the long term. His value was, well, what the Dolphins got for trading Laremy Tunsil to Houston.

Now he’s the one certified star on this team. You don’t trade that knowing he probably can’t reproduce last season. You don’t do it knowing his full injury history.

You don’t do it because you’re at a point where you actually have to win games — not just show improvement. The rebuild is rebuilt. The Dolphins will be judged like a real NFL franchise this year, not one on training wheels, where everyone says of any good day, “See? It’s working.”

It has problems, too. One is the Dolphins overpaid Jones at cornerback. He’s a good player. He shouldn’t be the highest-paid player at the position. It just calls more into question general manager Chris Grier’s free-agent decisions from last offseason.

Kyle Van Noy, Jordan Howard, Ereck Flowers, Shaq Lawson — you can go down the list of players dumped after one overpaid year. If it’s just money, that’s one thing. If owner Steve Ross wants to spend money, who cares?
But as Howard’s tantrum shows sometimes injecting money into a locker room has a domino effect. He became upset. The easy way out of this is giving Howard more money. But he’s one year into a five-year contract (or two, if you want to count the year it was extended). That’s an awkward precedent to set.

So here we are a week before training camp. Nothing has changed from two months ago — for the trade rumors that aren’t exactly tempting. It would be a player-fueled trade similar to Fitzpatrick, who was unhappy with his role.

Fitzpatrick, 24, is a two-time All-Pro. That’s a Hall of Fame trajectory. The Dolphins essentially got Pittsburgh’s 18th draft pick and took Austin Jackson. The left tackle looks like he’ll be good. But you don’t lose great young talent in a rebuild to get other young talent. (Plus, imagine a secondary with Howard and Fitzpatrick.)

There’s another issue here. Brian Flores, as good a coaching job as he’s done, is developing a track record of not getting along with some people. Don Shula and Jimmy Johnson didn’t get along with everyone, either. But they put up with great talent at times in order to help winning.

Howard likely comes to training camp rather than pay a daily, $50,000 fine. Wouldn’t you? The question is what frame of mind he’s in, and if he practices or has an, oh, nagging hamstring issue that holds him out.

It’s not the end of the world if he misses some practice. But this is a season the Dolphins are asked to win again. It’s not a year to trade away your best player for draft picks. Howard is unhappy. That’s fine. The Dolphins should let him be unhappy and intercept 10 passes for this defense.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-hyde-howard-trade-20210719-7hwdmzevrfgf7fu4qpsxdn4toq-story.html

[EDGECRUSHER]

I wouldn't trade him either for anything less than a Godfather/O'Brien offer. No need to, we have all the leverage. He wants more money and is going to sit out and not get paid? Can't say with 100% certainty that he won't but that would be a dumb move.

He ain't sitting for 4 years. Tell him to suck it up this year, play like a beast again and then renegotiations next offseason.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

According to reports, he has reported. 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/07/27/xavien-howard-reports-to-dolphins-training-camp/

[Dolphster]

I could be wrong because I really didn't read too many details about the situation, but I think Xavien and Rodgers were both in a place where neither of them had much leverage to do anything other than eventually report.  

[EDGECRUSHER]

I could be wrong because I really did read too many details about the situation, but I think Xavien and Rodgers were both in a place where neither of them had much leverage to do anything other than eventually report. 

This is true. Once you are under contract for more than one year, not a lot of leverage. ESPECIALLY after the Draft and Free Agency. Rosters are usually set and so are payrolls. Xavier had much less leverage than Rodgers because his contract was longer and he just signed a massive extension. He wants more money whereas Rodgers just wants out.

Like Rodgers, I bet Miami spoke to him and essentially punted to next offseason and told him we would take care of it then, early on in the offseason so both sides have time to work things out and maybe depart if need be.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Well, this is not over yet. Xavien Howard has formally requested a trade. Says he and his agent submitted a few proposals to restructure his deal and Miami declined all of them. This isn't some kid still on his rookie deal, free agency isn't every single season. Sometimes you outplay your deal, sometimes you don't. His agent just wants to get paid, that's all this is about.

I think we are much smarter than we were 2 seasons ago when we traded Mikah. We aren't settling for anything less than a monster package and the trading team will still have to fork over the biggest CB contract in history. That limits his suitors greatly, down to maybe no one.

If I had to guess right now, he plays the whole year in Miami and then the future is up in the air.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I’ve given my heart and soul to the Miami Dolphins since they drafted me in 2016, and want to make it clear that I love my teammates.

    They are my family. But what I’ve learned is that the business side of the NFL proves organizations don’t always have a player’s best interest at heart.

    My experience with the Dolphins the pas few seasons has taught me that. In 2018 I signed an extension that I’ll admit I didn’t completely understand, or feel comfortable with.

    I’ve played on that deal for two seasons and didn’t complain, but everyone knows I’ve significantly outperformed that deal.

    I’m one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, and the tape backs that claim. The assignments I’m given, shadowing the opposition’s best player with list help, proves my value, my worth. Yet, I’m the second highest paid cornerback on my own team, and it’s not even close.

    I want to clear up a few misconceptions about my situation. My agent David Canter and I have never once asked for a completely new contract.

    We wanted things to work out with the Dolphins, and brought solutions to the table - like guaranteeing more money - that we felt were win-wins for both sides. These were proposals of adjustments that wouldn’t just make me feel more respected, but were also cap friendly. But the Dolphins refused everything we proposed.

    That is why I don’t feel the organization has dealt with me in good faith. I don’t Feel valued, or respected by the Dolphins. Just like they can take a business-first approach, so can I.

    That’s why I want to make it clear I’m not happy, and have requested a trade.

    Until that trade happens I am here just so I don’t get fined, and will handle myself like professionals do."

That's his full statement. If guaranteeing a little bit more money was all it took to make him happy, I think Miami would've done it. This sounds like PR spin and how do you not understand signing the largest CB contract in history at the time?

[Tenshot13]

Rumor is we tried to trade X for Chandler Jones and a 5th and the Cardinals said no.