Cardinals won’t be able to pull off suggested trade for Xavien Howard
We are in the dead of the offseason for the Arizona Cardinals, which leads to all sorts of speculative writing from all around the Internet. The Cardinals roster is mostly complete but they still could make moves.
Bleacher Report’s Chris Roling has proposed a trade for each NFL team leading up to training camp.
For the Arizona Cardinals, he believes they should trade their 2022 second-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for cornerback Xavien Howard.
From Roling:
The Arizona Cardinals lost Patrick Peterson this offseason and didn’t add a name at the position in the draft until the fourth round.
Considering Arizona views itself as a win-now contender after adding names like J.J. Watt and should anticipate opposing offenses passing a ton in a bid to keep up with an explosive Kyler Murray-led offense, adding a proven name at the position should be a goal.
And given the trade rumors around Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard last year, maybe the Cardinals could offer up an alluring package for a starting-caliber boundary corner to feature in the defense.
Maybe Miami doesn’t want to let Howard go at this point, but this would be a sweet deal for the Cardinals with little risk because there’s an out built into his contract after this season, too.
It is a nice thought, but it wouldn’t happen at that price. It is true that teams will often will not give up high draft picks when they will also have to redo the player’s contract, but that has not been the case in recent years for good defensive backs. The Dolphins got a first-round pick for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Los Angeles Rams gave up two first-round picks for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, whom they will have to pay now. The Seattle Seahawks traded a pair of first-round selections to get safety Jamal Adams.
Howard is in the second year of a five-year, $75.25 million contract extension, but has no guaranteed money after the 2021 season. He believes he has already outplayed that deal.
Howard is definitely worth the contract he got. He would be a game-changer on the Cardinals’ defense.
But would it be worth giving up at least a first-round pick and more money, especially when they are likely anticipating having to pay Byron Murphy?
Giving up a second-round pick and then restructuring the deal to give him more guaranteed money would be a no-brainer, but that just isn’t happening. Miami isn’t dealing him if it doesn’t involve at least a first and probably multiple firsts, and the Cardinals aren’t going to give up that much on top of paying him.
It would be a great deal. It’s just not realistic.
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