Dolphins negotiated X Howard trade

On Sunday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Dolphins had trade negotiations with the Ravens that would’ve sent cornerback Xavien Howard to Baltimore.

According to Rapoport, the deal never got done because the Dolphins’ asking price was too high for Baltimore (at least a first-round pick), and the Ravens would have asked the Dolphins to take on some of Howard’s remaining salary.

For those reasons, a trade never materialized.

The Dolphins now get to keep one of their top players and work on a new deal with him this offseason after Howard and the team agreed to revisit his contract prior to the 2022 season.

https://sports.yahoo.com/dolphins-had-trade-discussions-ravens-121236250.html

so Miami had a defense that was struggling (but has played better as of late) and thought the solution was to get rid of their best player? is this an indication that Grier and Flores have thrown in the towel on this season? or was this an attempt to get another 1st rounder to trade for an unnamed Houston QB?

oh and, Howard was unhappy with his contract, so Miami renegotiated it to make him happier, but now he wants it renegotiated yet again before next year??? once you give in, they'll never be happy with anything.

I think the Ravens (and several other teams) contacted the Phins about Howard. The Phins didn't really want to trade him, so they put a high price tag on him. Obviously, no team was willing to pay the price.

I'm OK with that philosophy - no player is untouchable, but the price has to be right.

Who cares what could've and might've happened? Who knows if any of this is actually even true with how the media makes things up these days? No actual trades were made, the media needs to get over it. And why shouldn't a first be the asking price for Howard?

For a first round pick... I would be in favor of the move.  Here are my reasons: 

Obviously, and more painfully so after yesterday's debacle of a game, this season is over.  Losing Howard and the resulting dropoff to the next corner doesn't matter, we are going to win only a handful of games at best anyway. 

A first round pick is a valuable asset, for the NEXT GM.  Yes, I'm assuming Grier will be fired.  I want to arm the next regime with as much draft capital as possible, to see if THEIR rebuild will work. 

Howard is not exactly a young player.  Even keeping him on the roster, you've got maybe 2 or 3 years of top level performance, and that's assuming he stays healthy which is not a good bet.