{"id":22963,"date":"2025-05-14T16:04:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=22963"},"modified":"2025-05-14T16:04:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:04:58","slug":"breaking-pro-football-focus-names-defensive-tackle-howard-cross-iii-bengals-udfa-to-watch-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=22963","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Pro Football Focus Names Defensive Tackle Howard Cross III Bengals’ UDFA to Watch in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati brought in a player with strong coaching connections.<\/p>\n

\"Feb<\/p>\n

Feb 26, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Notre Dame defensive lineman Howard Cross (DL09) during the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images \/ Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

CINCINNATI \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Pro Football Focus writer Ben Cooper thinks a Bengals undrafted free agent could make the roster along the interior defensive front.<\/p>\n

Notre\u00a0Dame’s\u00a0Howard Cross III was his pick for a\u00a0UDFA to watch\u00a0on the Bengals.<\/p>\n

“Cross is a perfect fit to make the\u00a0Bengals\u2019\u00a053-man roster,”\u00a0Cooper noted.\u00a0“New defensive coordinator Al Golden is well accustomed to Cross, having coached him at Notre Dame over the past three years, and the Bengals have a dire need for interior defensive linemen.<\/p>\n

\"Meet<\/p>\n

“While Cincinnati signed\u00a0T.J. Slaton\u00a0in free agency, his 43.0 PFF overall grade and 13.5% missed tackle rate this past season\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0cut it. Cross, meanwhile, missed just one tackle in 2024. His 29 run stops over the past two seasons tied for the second most among Power Five interior defenders.”<\/p>\n

The connection to Golden could be\u00a0Cross’s\u00a0ace in the hole if he can pair that with some eye-popping moments over the next few months.<\/p>\n

He certainly has a path to making an impact at a position with just four entrenched players\u00a0as of this writing: B.J. Hill, Slaton, McKinnley Jackson, and Kris Jenkins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati brought in a player with strong coaching connections. Feb 26, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Notre Dame defensive lineman Howard Cross (DL09) during the 2025 NFL Scouting… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Pro Football Focus Names Defensive Tackle Howard Cross III Bengals' UDFA to Watch in 2025 - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=22963\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Pro Football Focus Names Defensive Tackle Howard Cross III Bengals' UDFA to Watch in 2025 - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cincinnati brought in a player with strong coaching connections. 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