NFL trade deadline: Latest rumors on Dolphins CB Xavien Howard

As the NFL heads toward Week 9 action, teams like the Miami Dolphins are considering making moves to improve their roster for a strong second-half push.

However, several other teams have become sellers hoping to offload contracts to gather more draft capital to build for the future. The Dolphins have seemingly fallen into that latter pithole after what’s been a discouraging start to the 2021 season.

Dolphins could still be interested in moving Xavien Howard

The Dolphins hold a 1-7 record, quickly pushing toward positioning their way into a top spot in next year’s draft. Miami is a shadow of the team that narrowly missed the playoffs last season behind a 10-6 record.

With the trade deadline on Tuesday afternoon, it created chatter around Xavien Howard’s future. The offseason featured plenty of talk around the team potentially moving off the All-Pro cornerback as he’s in the second year of his five-year, $75.2 million deal.

In the days leading into Tuesday’s deadline, the Minnesota Vikings were linked as a potential landing spot. Meanwhile, NBC Sports' Peter King reported that the Dolphins would receive calls about trades for Howard.

However, Miami isn’t budging as Matt Lombardo of Fansided stated that the team has no plans to move the veteran defensive back.

The Dolphins likely had plenty of interest in the 28-year-old, but will now wait until after this season to explore trade talks. Howard remains one of the league’s top defensive backs and could fetch a significant haul. He has recorded 23 total tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and 10 pass deflections.

After the 2021 campaign, his contract situation eases up as holds only a $9.5 million dead cap hit in 2022, a $1.4 million hit in 2023, and none in 2023. The Dolphins worked to restructure his contract before this season by fully guaranteeing his $12.7 million base salary and adding a maximum of $3.5 million in incentives.

Miami holds control of the situation, but it’s a matter that they will hold off as the team will have a clear picture of the future plans. On a related front, the team elected to pass on trading for Houston Texans star quarterback Deshaun Watson.

The Dolphins were linked as the primary landing spot for Watson, but the team has chosen to move forward with Tua Tagovailoa as the future at least through this year. The front office will allow the rest of the season to play out before making any notable changes.