One NFL Combine measurement has foolish fans jumping ship on Cashius Howell

Cashius Howell is coming off of a year for Texas A&M football where he was one of the most elite defenders in the country, winning awards like the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. With his eligibility now exhausted, the Bowling Green transfer is headed to the NFL as a guy who has been projected in the latter half of the first round.

Of course, before the NFL Draft comes the NFL Combine, where players gather to have their raw athletic traits tested and skills evaluated in front of all 32 professional teams. The Aggies sent a nation-leading 13 players to the Combine, some with a chance to move up in a big way— but something from Howell's first day is causing some fans to become unnerved with the prospect of their team selecting him.

Texas A&M star pass rusher Cashius Howell comes in below average on arm length measurement, but the proof is in the tape

The below tweet from Daniel Jeremiah summarizes Howell's measurements, and it's that 30.25" arm length that is causing a lot of fans to go into conniptions.

Fans have right away begun to project a precipitous fall for Howell after this became public.

Of course, fan evaluation has no bearing on how an NFL front office will conduct their draft strategy, but it's obvious that the tides are publicly turning against Howell's chances at getting into that top round. Should Aggie fans be worried that this will cause Cashius to slide out of that top group?

The long and the short of it is a solid "maybe." There are NFL teams that live and die by the combine numbers and raw traits, so there's something of a risk here. However, Howell's tape is hard to argue against, even if you look at his measurements as a negative.

To put up the numbers he did and look the way that he did in the process is what got him to this first round consideration in the first place. That can't be lost in the evaluation here. In many ways, it's the opposite of Shemar Stewart: the Bengals DE put up nearly no sacks during his time with the Aggies, but had elite measurables; Howell's measurables kept him back both out of high school and could now, but he's always produced in spite of that fact.

Hopefully, NFL front offices have the good sense to watch the tape of Howell rather than dwell solely on these numbers. He stacks up with any defender you care to name on that front, and will have a long career in the NFL ahead of him.