Xavien Howard is right to feel disrespected, and Miami Dolphins need to fix this mess | Opinion

Many questions in sports might be argued because they are not always easy to answer.

Who to draft? When to make a coaching change? Is he a Hall of Famer? What free agent to pursue? How good will Tua Tagovailoa turn out to be?

Then there are other questions that should not be questions at all because they are not debatable. Such as:

What should the Miami Dolphins do about the mess they have made with star cornerback Xavien Howard?

Well, duh.

PAY THE MAN!

Player empowerment is sweeping sports. Now NFL players are seeing what started in the NBA, with influential stars exercising their leverage to get out of contracts, to get more money, to get to a new team.

Howard, the player coaches and teammates call “X,” wants his share. No, demands his share.

He deserves that, and his employer should see that.

Instead Dolphins management, which has done a lot right the past couple of years, has fumbled this one.

Dolphins management let the Howard situation curdle and sour to the point the player went public on social media this week with his disappointment and anger, and requested a trade.

“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,” he wrote. “These were proposals of adjustments that wouldn’t just make me feel more respected, but but were also [salary] 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.”

Do you know how bad a situation has to get for a player to air his private business like that?

Howard is at training camp that began this week only to avoid the $50,000-per-day fine he could have been hit with for not showing up.

The Dolphins have the power here. They can elect to pay him and solve this, to trade him, or to force him to either play angry or sit out the season.

Howard has some leverage, too, though. Here is his power:

He is really, really good, at a really, really important position. He just turned 28; he’s in his prime. He might have been the NFL’s defensive player of the year last season (he finished third). His 10 interceptions led the league and were the most by any Dolphins player since Dick Westmoreland in 1967.

Howard could be the difference between Miami being a playoff team or not this season. Only the Year 2 progress of Tagovailoa is more important to this team and season.

The worst part of this mess dragging on and reaching this point is that it was so predictable.

It became predictable on March 16, 2020, 16 months ago, when Miami signed cornerback Byron Jones in free agency to a five-year, $82.5 million contract including $54.375 million in guaranteed money. It was outrageous generosity toward a player who had two career interceptions (and would have two more as a Dolphin last year).

Meanwhile Howard is playing with a five-year, $75.25 million contract, $39.26 million of it guaranteed.

“I’m the second highest-paid cornerback on my own team,” Howard rightly noted, “and it isn’t even close.”

Howard has hugely outperformed his contract based on what the club paid Jones. And the club needs to fix that.

Instead, when the team might have been reworking Howard’s contract this spring, they signed veteran defensive back Jason McCourty as insurance, knowing their hard line might cause Howard to want out. And knowing that again when Howard was a no-show at minicamp.

This thing is fixable. The trade request is just Howard turning up the heat on the Fins to make it right. That’s up to owner Stephen Ross and general manager Chris Grier.

Coach Brian Flores on Thursday sidestepped all inquiries on Howard. Asked whether he expected him to be in Miami’s opening game lineup September 12 at New England, he said, “I’m focused on today.”

Earlier, though, Flores said, “There’s a way. I guess the plan is to continue to have discussions on our part, continue to have talks with him and his representation. We love X. He’s a good player. He’s competitive. He’s here. He’s showing up.”

He’s this, too: Unhappy, and rightly so.

The Dolphins need to make fixing that the priority it should be.