Bengals dodged Day 2 draft landmine to secure Cashius Howell

The consensus across the NFL Draft sicko community is that Cincinnati Bengals scored some serious value on their Day 3 picks. Now we know that they might've missed out on multiple players if Day 2 of the draft had played out a bit differently.

After trading the 10th overall pick to the New York Giants for All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence, Cincinnati had a bit of a wait to go on the clock at No. 41 overall. Before the Bengals selected Texas A&M defensive end Cashius Howell with that pick, they almost traded up for him.

Or at least that's the presumptive takeaway from the Giants' latest behind-the-scenes video from their draft war room.

Bengals almost traded (again) with Giants on Day 2 of 2026 NFL Draft

Within the first minute of this Giants YouTube video that focuses on Combine interviews with the prospects they eventually drafted, New York GM Joe Schoen can clearly be heard discussing trade-down scenarios from the 37th pick to either No. 40 or No. 41. That'd be the Chiefs and Bengals. Hat tip to the New York Post's Ryan Dunleavy for this astute observation.

Cincinnati must've anticipated a run on edge defenders, and starting with Kansas City's pick of Oklahoma's R Mason Thomas, four of the six players drafted from Nos. 40 through 46 were defensive ends/stand-up rush linebackers.

Funnily enough, Howell grew up as a Chiefs fan, born and raised in KC. They passed on him in favor of Thomas, who has a similarly undersized frame but elite explosiveness off the edge.

Anyway, it's unclear what it would've taken for the Bengals to move up to the 37th pick. The G-Men had Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood atop their board once Round 2 began, and since he was still there, they dismissed any offers to move back in the draft and took him right then and there.

The Bengals had two sixth-round picks (189, 199) and two seventh-rounders (221, 226). They used No. 199 to move back for Georgia wideout Colbie Young at the end of Round 4 in a trade that also got them Ted Karras' probable successor at center, Connor Lew. They spent the other picks on Duke five-position offensive lineman Brian Parker II, Texas tight end Jack Endries, and Navy defensive tackle Landon Robinson.

So any sort of trade up for Howell likely would've derailed at least one, if not a couple of those picks. Lew, Parker, Endries, and Robinson were all strong values.

Perhaps Cincinnati fans should be thanking all the other teams and/or Colton Hood for the fact that he was still there at No. 37. And of course, we'll have eyes on how Howell fares compared to Thomas and the others drafted near him at the position (Derrick Moore in Detroit; Zion Young in Baltimore).

Trading up for Howell would've marked another strong move for the Bengals' typically conservative front office to show they're serious and convicted in who they want to get this team back to the playoffs. In this instance, though, how fortuitous it was that they stuck where they were and still got their guy!

If the Bengals were going to trade once more with the G-Men, why not just take my offer, send that over, and score the rights to Sonny Styles at No. 5 overall? I guess maybe the G-Men wouldn't have been too keen to miss out on Arvell Reese, but still...

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