Ferretsquig
Perennial All-Pro
Last year you have to throw out for every player on that D. It took 7-8 games for a bunch of street guys to even learn each other’s names. Look at the points given up as the season went on. He was hurt - the secondary was actually pretty good w/put him. Now imagine it w him in the back half of the season. As for his rookie year it was decent and you could tell he was going to be a star player. Sophomore year a bit better and as you say toward the end you could see “it” coming. Third year was as high a level as a CB can play. Point is, when healthy his abilities are among the very top of the league for such a premium position. There’s a reason when the Pats won all of those SBs they ALWAYS had a stud corner from Ty Law to Samuel to Revis to Talib to Gilmore etc. Howard is in that group ability-wise and is our best corner when healthy. Jones is very good too but with both healthy X is the better all around player. His ball tracking abilities are Ed Reed like. That’s game changing stuff there - like what he did to Brady that game. I’m not trading him - unless his play truly declines / loses a step and clear he won’t recover.
I wouldn't just ignore last year because the rest of the defense sucked. If he was playing hurt that's one thing but if that's who he is going to be post injury then the Phins have a salary albatross on their hands. Better to get out from under it when you've got a young team and a QB on his rookie deal.
Howard was very good at certain aspects of the game but he has always had his weaknesses. I put him a clear tier below the likes of Revis. In his prime Revis could handle anything. Howard has always struggled with the smaller quicker types and will get burnt if someone with top end speed gets a move on him. If healthy his pairing with Jones looks great, at least on paper. Athletically Jones can do more whereas Howard has been far more prolific coming up with the big plays.