Colts CB Xavien Howard retires, putting family ahead of football

Four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard retired Wednesday after his first four games with the Indianapolis Colts and nine seasons in the NFL.

Howard, 32, was not at practice Wednesday, with the Colts' injury report indicating it was due to a personal matter. Howard said in a social media post that he was choosing to retire for family reasons, that his "dream has now changed" and he is "no longer willing" to put football ahead of family.

"My purpose has been fulfilled in this sport, but my kids are more important to me than football," he wrote. "I've had a hell of a career, and even though it's ending in a unique way, I'm cool with that because for once I'm putting my family first and I'm proud and excited about that decision."

He also thanked the Miami Dolphins for drafting him and giving him an opportunity to play in the NFL, and the Colts for letting him "continue to live out my dream."

Indianapolis (3-1) later placed him on the reserve/retired list and signed safety Trey Washington to the 53-man roster from the practice squad.

After sitting out the 2024 season, Howard signed as a free agent with the Colts in August. He started all four games at outside cornerback and made 11 tackles and recovered one fumble.

However, he had a rough outing Sunday in the team's 27-20 road loss to the Los Angeles Rams, whose star receiver Puka Nacua finished with season highs of 13 receptions on 15 targets for 170 yards and one touchdown.

Howard said afterward that he didn't think Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was targeting him, calling it "football at the end of the day."

Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen said earlier Wednesday that Howard could remain a starter.

"As the head coach, obviously, I have final decision on all those things and we have those conversations throughout the week," Steichen said. "Looking back, too, with Xavien, those were two elite receivers (Nacua and Davante Adams) that we were going up against last week. So, again, we'll go through the process this week and evaluate everything like we do every week."

Howard was first-team All-Pro in 2020 and selected to the Pro Bowl four times, most recently in 2022.

He spent his first eight seasons with the Dolphins, who selected him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Baylor. He had 331 tackles, 29 interceptions -- two returned for touchdowns -- 95 passes defended, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries -- two returned for TDs-- and two sacks in 100 games (99 starts) for Miami from 2016-23.

He also has eight tackles and one interception in two playoff games (one start) with the Dolphins.

Howard led the NFL in interceptions in 2018 (seven) and 2020 (10), the latter when he also had a league-head 20 passes defended and was selected first-team All-Pro.

His 29 career interceptions were third among active players behind Harrison Smith (37) of the Minnesota Vikings and Kevin Byard (32) of the Chicago Bears.