Cincinnati Bengals Rookie Cashius Howell Makes Franchise History with Contract

Cashius Howell hasn’t played an NFL snap yet, but the rookie defensive end already has made Cincinnati Bengals history.

The team’s top draft pick – selected in the second round at No. 41 overall after the Bengals dealt No. 10 to the New York Giants for Dexter Lawrence – signed his rookie contract Tuesday.

Howell’s four-year rookie deal is worth $12,008,000, and he’ll see every penny of it, according to OverTheCap.com

That makes Howell the first second-round pick in team history to receive a fully guaranteed contract.

Howell received a $5,193,092 signing bonus as soon as he signed the deal.

His base salary for 2026 will be $885,000, followed by $1,430,818 in 2027, $1,976,636 in 2028 and $2,522,454 in 2028.

Last year’s second-round pick, linebacker Demetrius Knight (No. 49 pick), received $7,114,208 of his $9,012,482 in guaranteed money (79 percent).

The Bengals’ 2024 second rounder, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, got $5,480,322 of his $7,860,464 guaranteed (70 percent).

This year, 31 of the 32 second-round picks have signed, with the first the 16 selections in the second round all receiving fully guaranteed contracts.

The only second-round pick yet to sign is Patriots defensive end Gabe Jacas (No. 55).

The Bengals are expecting Howell to bring his explosive athleticism to the second-wave of the revamped pass rush this season.

Cincinnati assistant general manager Mike Potts raved about Howell on draft night.

“We’re fired up to add Cashius Howell to our pass rush — add a lot of juice here in the second round on top of what we did with the Dexter Lawrence trade,” Potts said. “Obviously, it gives us a lot of guys up front to really fortify our defense. We like his physicality and his instincts in the run game as well. He’s a guy we had targeted throughout the process, and we did a lot of work on him throughout this whole spring. We couldn’t be more fired up right now.”

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