No holdout: Xavien Howard joins teammates on unofficial first day of 2019 season

Xavien Howard might not have a contract, but he doesn’t seem to have a problem.

Howard, arguably the Dolphins’ best player, showed up to work Monday for the first day of the offseason conditioning program.

An important point: The workout was voluntary, but Howard attended nonetheless.

In other words: Don’t expect a public, messy holdout for Howard, who wants to become the highest-paid cornerback in the league.

And by the start of the 2019 season, he might just be.

But for now, he’s still on his rookie contract, set to earn just $1.3 million this season.

Many before him have skipped both voluntary and mandatory spring sessions to prove a point.

Heck, Le’Veon Bell sat out the entire season in 2018 over contract dissatisfaction.

That does not seem to be Howard’s M.O.

And if you’ve been paying attention, it really should not be a surprise.

Chris Grier telegraphed Howard’s participation when he spoke with reporters back at the NFL Scouting Combine last month.

“Yes, I’m very confident he’ll be there,” Grier said, when asked about Howard being on the team in 2019. “He’s been in the building, working out and getting in shape again after the Pro Bowl. But he’s doing good. Just hanging around him, he wants to be a Miami Dolphin and we want him to be a Dolphin.”

And the Dolphins want him to be a Dolphin.

Every year, the team’s social media team tweets out photos and videos of top players arriving at and participating in the first day of spring ball.

Howard and Kenyan Drake entering team headquarters was the first video posted on the Dolphins’ Twitter account Monday.

Grier, speaking with reporters at the NFL annual meeting last week, said this of locking Howard down long-term:

“It would be great. We’ve been talking to his agent back and forth a little bit and they’ve been very good to work with. Xavien wants to be here and wants to be here long-term. So yeah it would be important because I think it could send a message, which we want, is that we want our good young players to be here. So we’re working on trying to get something done. Whether it gets done or not who knows. There’s a lot of things that goes into that, getting those decisions done. But yes if we could get it done it’d be great but who knows?”

If it feels like football is back earlier than normal this year, you’re right.

Since the Dolphins have a first-year coach, they get a two-week head start on the season.

The Dolphins are allowed to hold four voluntary workouts per week, limited for now to strength and conditioning activities with 90 minutes max allowed on the field.

As the weeks go on, the team can add to the workload, culminating with a three-day mandatory minicamp.

This story was originally published April 1, 2019 at 9:32 AM.