Cashius Howell didn’t need long to put himself back at the center of the Bengals’ preseason conversation.
By the middle of the second quarter against Detroit, the rookie edge rusher had already stacked together a sequence that showed more than raw burst. In fewer than six minutes, he recovered a fumble in the red zone, blew past the left tackle so badly that a running back had to step in, drove that same tackle back into the quarterback, and then finished the stretch with a spin move that helped lead to a sack alongside Kris Jenkins Jr. If the box score doesn’t hand him credit for every bit of it, the film should.
What made the night stand out wasn’t just the production. It was the range.
Howell wasn’t winning with one trick. He was showing Cincinnati a pass rusher who can attack from different angles and force an offense to keep adjusting.
The first rep that jumped off the screen didn’t end in a sack, but it still counted as a win. From the snap, Howell had the left tackle beat inside to the B-Gap, and Detroit had to bring the running back in to help keep him away from Josh Dobbs.
That kind of pressure changes the structure of a play. It takes away the back’s chance to release into the flat or leak out for a checkdown.
A rusher doesn’t always need the sack to matter; sometimes making the offense commit an extra blocker is enough.
A few minutes later, Howell showed he could do damage without simply racing around the edge. With 5:55 left in the second quarter, he got into the tackle’s frame and powered him backward into the pocket.
That collapse from the blind side forced Dobbs to move out before resetting to throw. Detroit completed the pass on the play, but the effect was clear.
Speed makes an offensive tackle hurry. Power makes him pay for it.
Howell showed both.
Then came the counter. Less than 70 seconds after driving the tackle backward, Howell attacked again, spun back around him, and got to the quarterback with Kris Jenkins Jr. nearby. Jenkins Jr. was credited with the sack, but the important part for Cincinnati was Howell’s ability to finish the rep after setting up the tackle with speed and power earlier in the quarter.
That’s the part that should have the Bengals interested. Tackles can adjust to straight-line speed.
They can anchor against power. What becomes harder to handle is a rusher who can read the block and answer with a counter.
Howell already flashed that against Detroit.
His first clear impact came even before the pass-rush sequence. With 10:21 left in the second quarter, he recovered a Detroit fumble and handed Cincinnati the ball inside its own red zone. There’s not much technique to break down on a recovery, but being around the football still matters, especially for a rookie trying to prove he can change a game in more than one way.
None of this means one preseason quarter settles anything. Detroit will study the tape, better tackles will challenge him differently, and Howell will have to keep finding answers. But Thursday night gave the Bengals a stronger idea of what they may have in him.
He didn’t win the same way over and over. He won with speed, then with power, then with a spin move. For Cincinnati, that’s the encouraging part.
In Other News...
Bengals Passed On One EDGE And The Debate Just Got Louder
The 2025 draft has already become a talking point for Cincinnati because of the different paths taken by two edge rushers who were on the board at the same time. Atlanta went with James Pearce Jr., while the Bengals chose Shemar Stewart, and the comparison has only sharpened as both franchises wait for those decisions to play out on the field. For Cincinnati, the appeal was obvious at the time: a young defender with big traits who could grow into a long-term piece up front.
The problem is that the early returns have not brought much clarity. Stewart has not yet matched the kind of impact the Bengals were hoping for, and his current injury only adds another layer to a pick that is still being judged. Pearce, meanwhile, is now creating a different kind of headache for Atlanta, which is why the debate over which team handled the draft slot better is only getting louder. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Depth Battle Already Produced Some Early Standouts
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Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen drew plenty of attention as part of the defenses new look, but the more immediate intrigue came from the turnover swings and timely snaps made by players battling for jobs. In August, those are the kinds of moments that matter most, and the Bengals already have a few standouts making the case that this competition could get interesting well before cutdown day. [Read more 🡒]
Swayze Bozeman Is Suddenly Pressuring One Thin Bengals Position Group
Swayze Bozeman has spent the Bengals preseason making himself harder to ignore, and that matters in a linebacker room that could use another steady body. The undrafted defender, who was claimed off waivers in May after previous stops with the Chiefs, Bears and Giants, has flashed the kind of athleticism teams tend to chase when they are sorting through the bottom of the roster. He has been working with the second-team defense and generally looks like a player who has forced the staff to keep looking.
For Cincinnati, the appeal is obvious because the path is there if he keeps stacking useful snaps. Bozemans early work has put real pressure on a thin position group, and the Bengals will have to decide whether his preseason momentum is enough to carry him into roster discussions when cuts arrive. There is still a lot to sort out, but he has done enough already to make the conversation more interesting than expected. [Read more 🡒]