Howard Looking to Bounce Back After Pro Bowl

Xavien Howard is doing extra work this offseason, it appears.

That's one way to look at the cute clip of his workout pulling a sled with his son on it getting a ride at the same time.

Xavien Howard had his son on the sled and it might be the cutest workout you've ever seen. 🥺❤️

(via @Iamxavienhoward) pic.twitter.com/wPN58nmogK
— NFL (@NFL) April 11, 2023

Or maybe it's just a nice father-and-son bonding moment while Howard continues to get himself ready for what he hopes will be a bounce-back season for the Miami Dolphins.

BIG YEAR FOR HOWARD

Make no mistake, this is a big year for Howard, who somehow got himself voted to the Pro Bowl last season despite acknowledging it was not a typical Xavien Howard year.

Howard was charged with a 101.2 opponent passer rating when targeted, according to Pro Football Reference, his worst showing since the 2019 season. But like in that 2019 season when he landed on IR because of a knee injury, Howard just wasn't himself physically in 2022.

While he did play 15 games, it seemed pretty obvious he wasn't at 100 percent for a lot of those games and that led to him giving up completions we just didn't see him giving up in 2020 and 2021 when he was among the top cornerbacks in the NFL.

So there's motivation for Howard to get back to his All-Pro form because, again, that Pro Bowl selection he got last year was based off his name.

Howard also was never mentioned in the conversation about top cornerbacks last season, and don't think that's not a driving factor for him — as it is for most NFL players.

And now Howard has one of those "in the conversation" guys ready to start opposite him after the big offseason trade for Jalen Ramsey, and while the two are friends, there's also going to be some friendly competition going on that ultimately should benefit the team.

It's easy to forget how good Howard is when he's right, which is what happened in a recent social media ranking of the top cornerbacks in the league that had Howard outside the top 10.

At his best, Howard easily is a top 10 cornerback, actually more like a top 5, if not a top 3.

Additionally, there's Howard's contract status.

Howard has four years left on the extension he signed in 2022, but the Dolphins could walk away from the deal next offseason and save $14.5 million of cap space by releasing him with a post-June 1 designation, according to spotrac.com.

That would be a lot harder to envision if Howard bounces back from his down 2022 season with a typical Howard year in 2023.

Regardless, Howard has all the incentive in the world to come up with a big 2023 performance — and his son is there to help him achieve that.