CB Xavien Howard says 'door is closed' on return to Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins will cut cornerback Xavien Howard at the start of the new league year on Wednesday, ending his eight-year run with the club. General manager Chris Grier recently left the door cracked open for a potential return, but Thursday on WQAM‘s The Joe Rose Show, Howard slammed that entryway shut.

“That door is closed,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear [Grier’s comments]. I did not hear that at all, but I know that door is closed, though.”

A second-round pick in 2016, Howard has spent his entire career in Miami, becoming one of the best man-coverage corners in the NFL, corralling 29 career interceptions, earning four Pro Bowl bids and first-team All-Pro honors in 2020.

Asked to play more zone under Vic Fangio in Miami last season, Howard’s play dipped slightly. He also dealt with injuries that cost him five games, including a playoff loss.

Howard added that he’d assumed he would get cut this offseason, given how the contract was structured, with a $25.9 million salary cap figure in 2024. Miami will save $18.5 million on the salary cap by making his release a post-June 1 designation.

“I was expecting it to happen,” he said. “In this business you know how it goes. You feel it. Eight years here, and I’ve seen the business side of it so many times. … Me and my agent talked about it before we signed our last deal that that’s how it was gonna happen, and it ended up happening. I wasn’t surprised at all.”

Howard turns 31 in July, and while the record of aging corners isn’t pretty, the veteran has no plans to hang up his cleats.

“I still can play some good ball. No way,” he said when asked about shutting it down.

Given the need for coverage corners across the NFL, Howard shouldn’t have trouble finding a new job, even if his next contract isn’t nearly as lucrative as his last.