Monday Dolphins Notebook: Howard Talks, Taking a Pass on Tyrann, New Job for Jesse, and More
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Miami Dolphins GM Chris Grier sounded confident about the team coming to an amicable solution regarding the contract of Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard when he spoke at the combine in Indianapolis, and his tune didn't change Monday in West Palm Beach.
Speaking at the league meetings at The Breakers, Grier told South Florida reporters he still felt confident that Howard will be with the team moving forward.
“Yeah, we’ve had conversations with Xavien and his agent," Grier said. "We had them a couple of weeks ago in-person. I’ll keep those conversations to ourselves. We don’t negotiate through the press. But hopefully we’ll get to a resolution sooner than later. Xavien has done a lot of good things here for this organization. I’ve known him for years. I was here when we drafted him. He was my second draft pick here. I’m looking forward to him being here and helping us win.”
Indeed, Howard was the second pick the Dolphins made in the 2016 draft after Grier officially became the team's general manager.
Taking a Pass on Tyrann
Since the Dolphins already have made a couple of major acquisitions this offseason with Terron Armstead and Tyreek Hill, it's maybe normal for some fans to wonder why the team wouldn't to go after free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu.
But that's not happening, Grier said Monday.
"We’re not pursuing Tyrann," he said. "Good player. I think he’ll be a good addition for any team in the league, but no, we’re not pursuing him."
Here's one possible reason why he's just not a good fit for the Dolphins, beyond the obvious financial considerations (because Mathieu won't come cheap for any team): Mathieu's strength is his football IQ and ability to consistently find himself around the ball as a center fielder who can line up all over the place, and if you think that sounds a lot like a description of Jevon Holland, you would be right.
Fact is, Mathieu just might be a bit redundant for the Dolphins secondary, no matter how great a player he's been.
Gesicki and the Tag
The Dolphins ensured they would hang to tight end Mike Gesicki at least for the 2022 season when they placed the franchise tag on him (and he ultimately signed it), but Grier didn't sound like he was in much of a hurry to try to get a long-term contract done with the 2018 second-round pick.
Gesicki has until July 15 to sign a long-term extension; if he doesn't, then he'll play next season on the one-year tag contract of just under $11 million.
“Well, I think the one thing with Mike is that at the end of the day, I think you saw a bunch of tight ends got tagged with that market," Grier said. "Mike is a good player and our intentions are to keep good players. We don’t like to let them go. Mike is a very competitive person, as you guys know that have been around him. He’s going to play and we’ll have some discussions with his agents at some point in the future but I have no (concerns) that he’s going to not play because he’s too competitive, he’s too good of a person and he loves football.”
New Job for Jesse
A few days after being released by the Dolphins, offensive lineman Jesse Davis is back in the NFL.
Davis was released last week after starting 72 games for the Dolphins over the past five seasons, including 16 in 2021.
On the topic of former Dolphins offensive linemen, Billy Turner officially rejoined the Denver Broncos after spending the past three seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
Tyreek and Return Possibilities
One comment from Grier that stood out Monday concerned Tyreek Hill: "The first thing he said was, he goes, ‘I want to make sure I’m back there getting a couple of returns in every game.’ "
Hill has four punt returns for touchdowns during his NFL career, so he's obviously a major threat back there because of his speed, but he was too valuable on offense for the Chiefs to use him in that role the past two years.
Hill didn't have a punt return in 2021 after having only one in both 2019 and 2020, with a total of seven special teams snaps, and he stopped being used as a kickoff return after his rookie season.
The Dolphins are kind of in the same situation with Jaylen Waddle and Jevon Holland, who both have return ability and were used in that role in 2021 but should be too valuable on offense and defense to risk in the return game.
The best guess is the Dolphins will try to find a returner somewhere else, and one place might be former CFL standout DeVonte Dedmon, who set a CFL record when he needed only 15 games to record five career returns for touchdowns.
