The Dolphins have restructured the contract of star cornerback Xavien Howard (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). By converting a portion of his base salary into a signing bonus, the Dolphins now carved out an additional $3.8MM in cap room for 2021. 
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This marks Howard‘s second contract revision of the year. In August, the Dolphins ended Howard’s holdout by guaranteeing his entire 2021 salary while adding $3.5MM in incentives to his deal. Of course, that hasn’t done much to quell the speculation over his long-term future in Miami.
On the flipside, the Dolphins did rebuff a pre-deadline trade offer from the Ravens, back when they were a one-win team. It’s possible that Baltimore GM Eric DeCosta would have even coughed up a first-rounder to land the two-time Pro Bowler if the Dolphins were willing to eat a portion of his $13.8MM salary. Chris Grier‘s refusal — in the midst of a down year for Howard — indicates that he could still be in their plans for 2022 and beyond.
Since then, the Dolphins have rattled off three straight wins, bringing them to 4-7 on the year. Howard & Co. will look to extend the streak on Sunday when they host the Cam Newton-led Panthers.
Good player.
If Dolphins can get past Carolina they have the Giants and Jets after. Legit chance to get to 7-7 and maybe sniff wildcard if chips fall their way.
Seems a little late in the season for this kind of transaction, as there are very few players available via the waiver wire/free agent pool worth spending that kind of money on.
Cap space gets rolled into the next year….