Texas A&M edge defender graded as one of nation's best at his position thus far

Cashius Howell was one of the big reasons for Aggie fans to have hope in the A&M defense coming into the 2025 season, despite the fact that the Ags lost so much up front.

A few weeks into this year, and he's already displaying why that faith was well-founded. Howell's stat sheet may not stack up with the Reuben Bains of the world so far in 2025, but he's definitely made some eye-popping highlights of his own already.

And even though the aforementioned Bain, a star for the Miami Hurricanes, is getting some Heisman buzz, the Aggies' Howell may just have played a little better so far in 2025, according to Pro Football Sports Network.

PFSN grades Cashius Howell as third-best EDGE defender in Power Four

Cam Mellor of PFSN tweeted out the following grades for the top Power 4 EDGE defenders:

While grading players on a play-by-play basis can sometimes be subjective, over a large sample size, it's usually more informative than not.

There have been some who were disappointed in Cashius Howell's lack of box-score impact thus far— his three sacks in a row on the "immaculate possession" are still his only sacks on the year— he's still been productive by way of producing pressure.

Against UTSA, he was in the quarterback's face on nearly every snap where they didn't immediately throw the ball. Even against Notre Dame, he was speeding up CJ Carr with regularity, and nearly made a highlight interception— though he didn't come down with the ball, he still saved a touchdown.

The sacks will start coming for Howell pretty soon, and I think there's a solid chance he makes some noise in that department this weekend against Auburn. This kind of grade portends good things for the star defender in College Station, and I have no doubt he'll deliver in some big time moments going forward.