Howard hoping to get on solid footing
DAVIE— The Miami Dolphins are being cautious with the return of their top defensive player, and for good reason.
Xavien Howard has played one season the past four years in which he hasn’t had issues with his knees, which have been surgically repaired at least three times.
Miami’s trying to get the former Baylor standout back to being a dominant ballhawk, a corner back who has the skill set to shadow the opposition’s best receiver. To get him there 10 months after his left knee was repaired with arthroscopic surgery, the Dolphins are being cautious about how much they push their second-highest paid player in practice and with his rehab.
Even though Howard is entering his third week of practice participation — most of which has been limited— coach Brian Flores hinted that Howard might not be ready to play in Sunday’s season opener against the New England Patriots.
“Xavien’s health is very important tome. I know everyone is excited about Game 1, but we’ve got to take a look long termas far as the overall 16-game season,” Flores said about Howard, who played in five games last season because of lingering knee pain.
“That’s [not just] with Xavien, but that’s with everyone. That’s the approach we’ll take. We’re not going to rush anyone, but if the guy is ready, he’ll be out there.”
That means Howard, who had his left knee surgically repaired in late December, must perform up to expectations in practice this week to get a clearance from the team’s doctors and trainers.
Howard is optimistic about his recovery and the prospect of reestablishing his reputation as one of the NFL’s elite cornerbacks.
“I feel like it was perfect timing,” said Howard, who has pulled down 12 interceptions and deflected 35 passes in the 40 games he’s played in the past four seasons. “Me and the Dolphins, we did a great job staying and believing the plan that we had. That plan worked perfectly fine and I’m here.”
The Dolphins added Byron Jones as a free agent this offseason and selected Noah Igbinoghene with the 30th pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft to improve the cornerback unit this offseason.
So the need to rush Howard doesn’t exist because the Dolphins could easily have those two newcomers, and Nik Needham, a secondplayer who started 11 games last season and contributed 54 tackles, two interceptions and 11 pass deflections, will share the cornerback workload against the Patriots.
It’s possible Miami could use a three player rotation to address who plays the boundary spots, and there’s the potential to have other players work into the nickel and dime packages, especially since both starting safeties — Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe — have experience playing cornerback.
“Talent, experience and ability to communicate is always a factor who plays in the nickel position and some of the sub packages,” Flores said thisweek.
The Dolphins might also get Jamal Perry (formerly Jamal Wiltz ), who started six of the 14 games he played in last season, in the mix as Miami’s nickel cornerback.
Igbinoghene is also being trained to play inside towork as a nickel cornerback.
The Dolphins feel his background as a receiver at Auburn before he moved to cornerback might help the rookie master that
position quickly. But Igbinoghene acknowledges the transition hasn’t been an easy one because of the route adjustments a slot receiver can make on any given play. And no team has mastered utilizing slot receivers better than New England, so putting the rookie on Julian Edelman right out the gate could be a recipe for disaster.
“Playing outside, you have the sideline as your help, so you can really use that to an advantage,” said Igbinoghene, who contributed 92 tackles, one interception and 18 pass breakups in the 25 games he played cornerback at Auburn.
“Inside, you don’t really have the sideline, so [the receiver] can really go anywhere you want depending on the coverage you’re in. That’s why I feel like slot is harder mentally. Physically, I think corner is harder, but mentally, inside you have to knowa lot of things.”