Production Has Never Been A Real Issue For Me

With the Bucs in dire need of pass rush help, there have been endless links between them and Texas A&M edge rusher Cashius Howell early in the pre-draft process. After Howell told reporters Wednesday morning that he met formally with Tampa Bay at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, those links are sure to continue.

“They had a good idea for what they’d want to do with me within the scheme of their defense,” Howell said. “I’ll be definitely blessed and excited if they were to draft me.”

Howell was productive throughout his college career, which began at Bowling Green and finished in College Station with Texas A&M. After posting two sacks and 11 total pressures as a redshirt freshman at Bowling Green in 2022, he broke out in 2023 with a 9.5-sack season that also featured 40 total pressures. Then, he took a step up to the next level, transferring to play for the Aggies in the SEC.

He was more of a rotational player in his first year, playing behind the likes of Shemar Stewart and Nic Scourton. In that role, he had four sacks and 27 total pressures. But everything fully came together in 2025 when Howell racked up 11.5 sacks to finish second in the SEC (by just a half-sack).

In total, Cashius Howell finished his college career with 27 sacks, 35.5 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and 15 passes defensed over 56 games.

Why, then, has one of the prevailing narratives surrounding Howell throughout the pre-draft process been about his arm length? Of course, these factors always come up during the evaluation process, and there’s a reason for it. To Howell’s credit, he’s taking it all in stride and focusing on perfecting everything else. Because if he can do that, it’s bound to outweigh any concerns about his length.

“Obviously, you know, I have shorter arms,” Howell said at the NFL Combine on Wednesday. “But I feel like I’m made in the name, image and likeness of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That’s just the cards that I was dealt. And I’m gonna do everything in my power to perfect my technique and perfect my craft in whatever way possible to make sure my game translates to the next level.”

And then came what could’ve come across as a mic drop moment, only the 22-year-old delivered it pretty nonchalantly. It was just a fact.

“I feel like production has never been a real issue for me,” he said. “Like I said, I’m gonna do everything in my power to change that narrative.”

Cashius Howell Has An Edge To Him That The Bucs Could Use

There’s a certain edge about Cashius Howell that is evident in the way he plays the game. It shows up on tape, and it’s something that his teammates rally around.

“He’s a beast. He’s a dawg, man,” Texas A&M defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim said Wednesday. “Having that [many] sacks, leading the SEC in sacks… Just watching him practice, I wasn’t surprised. Seeing the way he played in spring ball, seeing the way he practiced, seeing the way he does stuff off the field, I just wasn’t surprised at all. He’s a beast.”

As far as that edge Howell brings?

“It rubs off on the whole team, seeing someone go crazy in games like that,” Onyedim said. “It makes you want to go eat.”

So, where does that fight and fire come from? Howell was largely overlooked in the recruiting process out of high school, and he worked his way up to make an impact at Bowling Green. Then, he had the opportunity to play SEC ball, and he took it. But even upon his arrival in College Station, he still had to work his way up. It wasn’t necessarily a matter of starting over, but he had to be more of a backup to the likes of Stewart (an eventual first-round pick of the Bengals) and Scourton (an eventual second-round pick by the Panthers).

“I had to come in and just kind of play a backup role for my first year,” Howell said. “I just took the cards that I was dealt, made the best of my opportunities and looked at guys like that because I knew those were gonna be highly drafted, highly sought after guys. And I just kind of tried to put it together for myself.”

But even while he spent that first year playing on a rotational basis, the young pass rusher said that’s also when things started to really click for him.

“When I first got to A&M, I felt like I was there for a reason,” Howell said. “God put me in that position for a reason. He allowed me to play at the highest level of college football. I just stayed down and worked my first year, and just ultimately was able to put it all together in my last year.”

Howell is strong in his faith, and he’s been through an absolute grind to get to this point. Now, his focus is on bringing that edge, energy and effort to the next level.

“A guy that’s gonna come in and work. Every day, be the same guy,” Howell said when asked what a team will get when drafting him. “Every day, bring the same motor, the same energy, the same effort. I feel like I [hang] my hat on treating every drill, every play, every practice, every rep as [if] it’s my last. So, I feel like that’s what they’re gonna get from me.”

This all sounds like it could be music to the Bucs’ ears as they search for the pass rushing juice they’ve been missing since they had Shaq Barrett in his prime. Oh, and speaking of Barrett?

“That’s one of the guys, I feel like we have similar physical frames and I feel like he did a good job at understanding his leverage,” Howell said on Wednesday. “He was able to translate it at the next level like I want to do for myself.”

It’s interesting that after the Bucs produced 37 sacks as a team in 2025 – the first time they failed to reach 40 since 2018, the year before Shaq Barrett’s arrival in Tampa – the fix they could opt for fashions his game after Barrett.

Maybe that’s not interesting. Maybe it’s fate?