New England Patriots
“Burst and elusiveness are on Howell’s rush menu and he pairs it with a refreshing inside spin counter.”
Bolstering their cross rush stands as certainly one of many offseason duties for Eliot Wolf, Mike Vrabel, and the remainder of the Patriots’ prime brass.
Past the potential situation of shedding Okay’Lavon Chaisson (7.5 sacks) in free company, New England’s present crop of edge rushers was already in want of a elevate. Solely six groups posted fewer sacks in the course of the common season than the Patriots (35.0).
As such, it ought to come as little shock that a new 2026 NFL mock draft from ESPN’s Jordan Reid has New England taking a pass-rushing drive with their first-round choose (No. 31 general).
Reid has New England utilizing their thirty first general choose on Texas A&M edge rusher Cashius Howell — a twitchy and explosive athlete who may develop right into a heat-seeking missile on Vrabel’s protection.
“Howell is a pass-rushing menace who tends to be a disruptive presence,” Reid wrote. “He has a sophisticated repertoire of pass-rushing strikes, and his 11.5 sacks final season ranked seventh amongst all FBS defensive linemen.”
Howell was a thorn within the facet of opposing offenses in 2025, main the SEC in complete pressures with 41. If New England is on the lookout for a pure blitzer who can sap momentum on crucial drives, Howell may match the invoice.
The one knocks in opposition to Howell are his smaller body and questions round whether or not or not he can maintain up as a real three-down participant on an NFL protection.
“Burst and elusiveness are on Howell’s rush menu and he pairs it with a refreshing inside spin counter,” NFL writer and draft expert Lance Zierlein wrote of Howell. “Although threatening, his rush may use extra cohesive sequencing and higher hand work to totally unlock its potential.
“As a run defender he’s steadily knocked round on the level and struggles to constantly execute duties requested of an NFL edge-setter. Howell won’t be a three-down participant immediately, however his skill to create strain units him up for a task as a chosen rusher, at minimal.”
New England has a number of areas of the depth chart that it may handle with its first-round choose, together with the offensive line, security, tight finish, linebacker, and edge rushers.
Even when the Patriots are capable of retain Chaisson and hand him a pleasant pay increase, New England may use one other explosive presence in that phase of the roster, particularly with veteran Harold Landry Jr.’s recreation slipping in the course of the 2025 marketing campaign attributable to a knee damage.
Talking on the NFL Scouting Mix final week, Vrabel acknowledged that this upcoming draft class has no scarcity of bodily edge rushers who could possibly be matches for New England’s protection.
“I believe that there’s obtained to be a violence. There’s obtained to be a capability to maneuver off the soccer and to create some kind of disruption,” Vrabel mentioned of what he’s on the lookout for in an edge rusher. “You might have to have the ability to think about on the quarterback. You might have to have the ability to make performs on the soccer.”
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