The key leadership in charge of building the Cincinnati Bengals' roster has gone years without any meaningful accountability delivered to them from the front office. Even if the powers that be haven't picked up what I've put down since starting this gig, I've been pretty consistent.
Fans were fed up after the 2025 season. It was a tipping point. Either change your ways, Mike Brown, Blackburns, Duke Tobin and y'all, or watch Joe Burrow demand a trade, Carson Palmer style.
To their credit, the Bengals brass has bucked up in the literal monetary sense, and they've aggressively pursued roster upgrades to bolster the defense in particular.
After trading the 10th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence, Cincinnati turned around and nabbed another defensive lineman in Cashius Howell in the second round. My fear was that, a la contract negotiations with star players and last year's fiasco with Howell's teammate, Shemar Stewart, the Bengals would be weird about the rookie's contract in some form or fashion.
No really. I just wrote on May 31 about how lame it was that Howell's deal wasn't done yet. The team responded by signing him on Tuesday to round out their rookie class.
Cashius Howell officially agrees on rookie contract with Bengals, whose 2026 draft class is all signed
The Bengals announced the wonderful news on Howell themselves just after reports surfaced that Burrow's contract had been restructured to free up some $10 million in salary cap room.
Those two items are just mind-blowing. Inconceivable a matter of a few months ago. Now, this is looking like the new normal in Cincinnati — and my goodness, it's about darn time!
Howell is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Unlike Stewart, he was actually productive in college. Defensive coordinator Al Golden can deploy Howell at defensive end for sure, yet he's also envisioning a hybrid linebacker sort of role for him. That could help address the defense's clear position of weakness.
Just listen to this dude. He gets it.
The #Bengals officially signed their second-round draft pick, Cashius Howell today.
— Gabi Sorrentino (@GSorrentinoTV) June 9, 2026
Here's one minute with the Bengals rookie DE following practice today:@FOX19 pic.twitter.com/AbDy03foHW
Bear in mind, Stewart wasn't anywhere near practicing with the team at this time last offseason, with the Trey Hendrickson negotiations growing uglier by the day to boot.
Not that Howell was allowing the contract negotiations to stop him from participating in the Bengals' offseason program at all, but the fact that it's a non-issue now is such a relief. Especially if he's trying to digest a complex playbook and take on multiple positions — wherein soon he'll have fewer reps as the season gets closer — the last thing he needs is the distraction of a contract dispute.
What is this Cincinnati Bengals front office? Are they possessed by the football gods who've cursed this franchise for so long? Did they get angry enough about how the Bengals were handling Burrow's prime that they decided to divinely intervene?
I swear, it's almost as if the Bengals' most influential folks in the operation started digging into Stripe Hype and realized, "You know, what are we doing here? Why are we self-sabotaging ourselves to such a ridiculous degree?"
Regarding Howell, there was no petty offset language contract dispute like there was with Shemar Stewart.
No word on whether Howell's contract was fully guaranteed, which is becoming more commonplace for second-round picks, but good on him, his representatives, and the organization for getting this relationship off on the right foot, in stark contrast, again to the infamous Shemar Saga.
Tuesday felt like a Game Dey that, honestly, extends beyond just one day. Between Burrow's restructure and the full securing of the rookie class, the Bengals appear determined to not let anything distract from their mission of finally delivering a Super Bowl to Cincinnati.
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