The Bengals may have found something real in Cashius Howell, and Amarius Mims did not hold back when asked about the rookie edge rusher.
“Cashius was making some grown-man plays,” Mims said. “He’s the least like a rookie player I’ve seen on defense since I’ve been here (three years). A grown man.”
That kind of praise stands out, especially for a Cincinnati defense that has been searching for more pressure off the edge. Howell came into the draft as a different sort of bet than the Bengals usually make at EDGE.
He brings a deep pass-rush toolbox, but he does not fit the mold of the bigger run-stuffing linemen Cincinnati has often favored. Lately, though, those safer-profile picks have not turned into pass rushers fast enough.
That is why Howell’s early impression matters. The Bengals need help collapsing pockets, and the feeling around this rookie is that he may be ready to become one of the guys who can actually do it.
That theme showed up in the Bengals’ joint practice work with the Bears, where the energy shifted from offense-heavy stretches to a more heated back-and-forth as the drills went on. Cincinnati’s defensive line was a major part of that push, and Chicago’s defense answered with some plays of its own against a Bengals offense that still has plenty of talent on it. The defensive highlight belonged to rookie safety Dillon Thieneman, who picked off Joe Burrow.
With the starters not expected to be seen in Saturday’s game, this practice was about as close as fans will get to a real look at them until Week 1, most likely. There were takeaways on both sides, but it was still just practice, and neither team was game planning for the other.
Burrow, meanwhile, made his own clear statement about where his head is at heading into the season.
“You can keep pushing it down the road or you can talk about it now and say this is the year,” Burrow said Thursday. “You know, I’m tired of saying, ‘Next year, next year, next year.’
This is it. Your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road.
I’m trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and be great every day and try to make it happen.”
That is the kind of quote that will get dragged around all year, but the point from Burrow was straightforward: he wants urgency, and he wants accountability. Earlier in the press conference, he also took some of the blame for Cincinnati’s inconsistencies.
This was not a threat or a breakup line. It was a quarterback who is tired of falling short and wants the whole team aligned with him.
Around the league, there was plenty else happening Thursday. In the 2026 NFL preseason, Week 2, Fernando Mendoza’s numbers did not sparkle, but the more troubling part was the beating he took from the Texans’ backup defense. Houston’s reserves may be good enough to pass for starters in some places, yet Mendoza still got hit five times, pressured on 37.5% of his dropbacks and sacked once.
The Ravens also took another hit when center Danny Pinter suffered a torn patellar tendon. Pinter left Wednesday’s session on a cart before undergoing imaging, and the testing brought back the worst possible result. He had been on track to compete for a starting job for the first time since entering the league as a fifth-round pick by the Colts in 2020.
And in Jacksonville, Travis Hunter took a turn at placekicking during joint practice with the Panthers. During Wednesday’s special teams period, he tried five field goals from 27 yards out, and the first four were badly missed, with a couple barely getting off the ground.
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The Bengals did cut down on sacks allowed in 2025, yet Burrow still took 17 in eight games, a number that helped cut short his season and limited what the offense could become. Cincinnati has not made major changes up front, choosing instead to trust the lines cohesion, but until that unit proves it can keep Burrow clean, the teams Super Bowl hopes will keep feeling fragile. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Defense Is Showing A Toughness Fans Have Been Waiting For
Cashius Howell has been one of the quieter stories of Bengals training camp, but the rookie defensive end is starting to make his presence felt. His growth showed up in a joint practice against the Bears, where Cincinnatis defense put together one of its sharper stretches and Howell was part of the pressure that helped set up an interception by Dexter Lawrence.
For a defense that spent last season trying to find more consistency, those late-practice sequences matter. The Bengals were working with better chemistry and a more decisive finish, and Howell pointed to that as the kind of standard that needs to carry over once the games count. [Read more 🡒]