Versatility without substitution: The hidden value of Cashius Howell and Kyle Dugger

When Al Golden met with the media at the NFL Combine, he outlined his vision for the 2026 Bengals’ defense. His message revolved around the theme of versatility — specifically being able to be versatile without substitution.

“That makes you dangerous,” Golden said.

The problem was that the defense, at the time, didn’t have many versatile players. The 2025 season established that Demetrius Knight Jr. shouldn’t be setting the edge, and that Dax Hill should be a true outside corner.

To achieve the vision, the Bengals had to add different archetypes of players to the roster.

“I’m a defensive coordinator,” Golden said at the combine. “I like toys. Force multipliers is what you need.”

The biggest force multiplier that the Bengals’ defense added this spring was Dexter Lawrence, who commands double teams at incredible rates, allows you to stop the run with light boxes and offers rare pass rush for the nose tackle position.

The other two new versatile, scheme-changing chess pieces are very much flying under the radar.

They’re rookie edge Cashius Howell and veteran safety/linebacker/slot corner Kyle Dugger.

Howell (6-foot-3, 255 pounds) broke a long-standing trend of the Bengals acquiring big, physical, rugged and long defensive ends in the mold of Sam Hubbard and Carlos Dunlap. Howell is a completely different style of player than his teammates in the defensive line room, including Boye Mafe, Myles Murphy and Shemar Stewart.

“I can be in the box and drop out into coverage, or I can be in the box and rush the passer and set the edge as a true defensive edge,” Howell said on Tuesday.

Howell had 14 sacks at Texas A&M last year and was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year because of his tremendous quick twitch off the edge, his chase down speed to finish plays against quarterbacks, his violent play style at the line of scrimmage and his physical tackling style.

Because of his sack total, it gets glossed over that Howell had ample experience dropping back into coverage.

It’s a hybrid linebacker position that Texas A&M called “the jack.” In Cincinnati, Howell said that Golden calls it “the rush” or the SAM. Golden says that Howell can be a 4-2 edge, an outside linebacker in a bigger front (five defensive linemen) or a dropper into coverage.

As he learns his role in this defense, Howell is studying Von Miller, Nick Herbig and Shaq Barrett.

Instead of Knight being out of position and lining up on the edge in 2026, the Bengals can smoothly slot Howell into that position and benefit from having a SAM linebacker with real pass rush juice.

“He’s super attentive, super eager to learn regardless of what his responsibility is, whether that’s rushing or dropping (in coverage),” linebacker Barrett Carter said. “It’s been really cool to see the growth since he got here and how mature he is for his age. The reason why we brought him here is he’s not just a guy who can only rush, or only drop. He can do both at a high level.”

Howell also has the ability to make big plays as a pass rusher. His slender frame gives him a much different look on the edge compared to Mafe, Murphy and Stewart.

“You get so used to blocking a bigger body like Myles Murphy, Shemar (Stewart) or Boye Mafe,” left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said. “Then, you’ve got Cashius coming in as a changeup. So often as a tackle, that can impact your rhythm. It’s a chance of pace. It’s going to cause a lot of tackles fits. It’s something you’ve got to get used to. When he’s spelling guys off the sideline, he’s going to be disruptive, making a lot of plays.”

Looking at the big picture of the Bengals’ defense, the core of the group will be Mafe, Murphy, Lawrence, Jonathan Allen/BJ Hill, Carter, Knight, Dax Hill, DJ Turner, Bryan Cook and Jordan Battle. That’s 10 players (Hill and Allen will likely rotate in and out along with Lawrence).

Who the 11th player on the field at any given point in time will likely come down to situations and matchups.

When the Bengals need more speed off the edge, or when they play five defensive linemen sets in a base defense against 12 or 13 personnel, Howell can be the 11th Bengals’ defender on the field (Howell will also rotate in as Mafe’s backup for pass rush opportunities).

When they need more of a presence in the box, Dugger can step in as that 11th defender.

Dugger may not technically be a starter, and Jalen Davis is the favorite to be the Bengals’ nickel corner this year. But in a league where the huge trend is offenses using bigger (two and three tight end) personnel groupings, you need defensive backs who can match up against those tight ends in coverage and are also able to stick their nose in and defeat the block of a tight end. With more and more Erick All Jr. hybrid tight ends emerging around the league, defenses need the counter linebacker/tight end hybrid.

That can be Dugger, who signed a one-year deal with the Bengals in April.

“When you bring in a guy like that with the experience he has who can play nickel, free safety, strong safety, playing in the box and being that physical presence on the back end, that’s super exciting for me,” Carter said. “That’s what you want back there. He has been great since he has been here, and I’m excited to learn from him and make a lot of plays with him.”

Here’s the chess match that happens every week in the pass game: Offenses reveal different types of personnel groupings (11 personnel, 12 personnel, “11.5 personnel” when one of those tight ends is a Mike Gesicki or a Tanner Hudson type). Defenses then have to decide how they’re going to match up against those specific looks — do you go bigger with more linebackers to prioritize stopping the run, or smaller with a nickel corner to solidify your coverage options down the field?

Dugger is a Swiss Army knife. Golden said that Dugger is a physical player who uses his hands well, can set the edge, is “really natural” in the box, can find the football, can be a force in the run game and can match up against tight ends.

The Bengals have seen all of that first-hand. In 2024, during that terrible Week 1 loss to the Patriots, Dugger was one of the most impactful players on the field. He broke up a beautiful pass in the end zone to Mike Gesicki, and he forced a fumble from Tanner Hudson that changed the game.

“He’s willing to put his head in there and make plays, and he’s not scared of contact,” Hudson said. “It’s a great asset to this team. Any time you can add versatility, it’s going to be a great thing. The fact that he can possibly play both for us, to have a player like that, it’s great to have. Hopefully he gets a few punchouts on other tight ends this year.”

Dugger has had a really interesting career. Bill Belichick’s Patriots drafted him in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Lenoir-Rhyne University because of how much the former New England head coach valued his potential to be versatile. The pick was a massive success, and Dugger earned a four-year, $58 million deal before the start of the 2024 season.

Dugger played hurt in 2024, dealing with an ankle injury, and needed surgery at the end of the season. Mike Vrabel took over for Jerrod Mayo (who ran Belichick’s scheme) heading into 2025. As Vrabel installed his new system during OTAs, Dugger was still sidelined. When training camp started, Dugger was behind the eight ball due to the reps he missed, and he also wasn’t as much of a fit in the new system.

“Coming off of an injury, it takes time to get your feel back,” Dugger said. “Going through what I went through in New England didn’t allow me to do that. Change of staff. They didn’t really know. Then, I got traded. It’s hard to get in a rhythm and get back on my feet when I’m being tossed in the air like that.”

His playing time dwindled, and then the Patriots traded Dugger midseason to the Steelers. Dugger played pretty well for Pittsburgh in his role, but it wasn’t enough for Dugger to earn a multi-year deal in free agency.

“It was really tough,” Dugger said. “I was trying to get my foot in. It happens for a reason. I was supposed to be here.”

Dugger can truly help the Bengals at linebacker, at slot corner, at free safety and strong safety. He has played each of those positions. While he may not have the coverage chops to play the slot on third downs where he’d have to defend slot receivers and while he may not have the size to take on elite blocking tight ends in the run game when he lines up at the linebacker position on early downs, there are plenty of scenarios in the tight end cat and mouse game where Dugger can really fit.

For example, in training camp, when the Bengals put Gesicki and Drew Sample on the field, matching that with a “big nickel” defense that has Dugger guarding Gesicki in the slot can be a really good answer, especially if Dugger can quickly defeat the tight end’s blocks in the run game.

“(Everything) goes off the physicality of the defensive backs,” Dugger said. “That helps the defensive coordinator open up the playbook when we don’t have to get in certain packages to match what they’ve got going on. It makes it easier for the defensive coordinator if I can play the run well.”

Just like Howell, Dugger’s skill set is a changeup. Dugger is so much of a different player than Battle and Cook, and he also gives the Bengals a better true backup safety than he had last year.

“I really enjoy being able to know each position on the defense,” Dugger said. “That helps you fix guys who may be out of the position. It makes it so much harder for the offense to track you and know what you’re going to do. I enjoy being in that role and being able to do multiple things.”