The Dolphins have received at least one trade inquiry on cornerback Xavien Howard, but it would take a “Laremy Tunsil type” offer to get a deal done, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. This jibes with previous reports we’ve heard — the Dolphins may be willing to listen, but they want a serious haul for the fifth-year star.
The Tunsil deal saw the standout left tackle and wide receiver Kenny Stills shipped to the Texans last year in exchange for two first-round draft picks, a second-round choice, and more. While Howard holds significant value, Tunsil was a special case. There’s a dearth of quality talent at the left tackle position, and teams were willing to pay a fortune for Tunsil.
The Dolphins extended Howard in April of last year, giving him a $15MM/year deal that runs through 2024. There’s no guaranteed money after this year, so the Dolphins could theoretically trade him today and absorb a modest $4.1MM cap hit. The 27-year-old is due base salaries of $12.1MM and $12.4MM in 2021 and ’22 before a slight drop to $12MM in ’23 and ’24.
Howard, who missed 11 games last season, led the NFL with seven interceptions in 2018 and already has 16 picks in his four-plus-season career. In that span, only Titans safety Kevin Byard has more INTs. So far this year, he’s tied for the NFL lead with four INTs (with Kendall Fuller of WFT and J.C. Jackson of the Patriots).
Not gonna happen then. The Dolphins are playing well, too.
Yeah, they are playing good ball and Flores is a good coach
Why bust it up now?
Well the Dolphins certainly aren’t a SB contender even if they’ve improved. They have set an enormous asking price that would be silly to turn down if offered. But there’s probably a 90%+ chance he stays in Miami. He’s good but what they are asking for is a giant return. As valuable as Tunsil was only one gm in the league would pay that much and he’s no unemployed with good reason
Plus forget Bill O’Ruin a team brien is no longer around to over pay and then overpay on contracts
This article was just a reminder that the Tunsil deal is probably worse than the Hopkins deal, and that’s saying something. Miami is getting what could be as high as the #2 pick next year, along with maybe the #34.
Both deals stand on their own as bad deals, but BOB traded the future to win now with Tunsil, then traded away 2020 with the Hopkins deal. A bit like the Pirates trading away Cole, then trading for Archer, in the same season.
You make some valid points even if I tend to lean the other way. My argument towards the Hopkins deal is they got negative return for him really. They had to take on Johnson’s deal in return and that was a deal the Cardinals probably never envisioned being able to move. You are correct they gave up some serious draft capital for a LT though. The Hopkins deal also had negative affects on the WR they traded for or signed to replace Hopkins as well. They didn’t want to pay Hopkins so they overpaid for WR Cooks in pick and contract.
If a team won’t be winning the super bowl, and can get an overpay for a player like Howard, they generally do it. It creates too much draft capital not to.