Which Bengals Edge Rusher Could Crack ESPN’s Top 10 in 2027?

With ESPN releasing position rankings ahead of the 2026 season and thereby lighting fan bases ablaze over certain player rankings, James Rapien of The First Word raised an interesting conversation concerning the Bengals’ edge rushers.

Which of them, if any, will make the top 10 list after the upcoming season?

Cincinnati is in an interesting spot with its edge rushers, with a lot of new faces in the room. Boye Mafe signed a multiyear deal after winning a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks, who featured one of the more impressive defensive lines in the league.

Cassius Howell was selected as the Bengals’ first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, taken in the second round as a hybrid edge rusher and linebacker. He has a different build than most of Cincinnati’s pass rushers, but he proved in college that he can get after the passer.

These two join Shemar Stewart, the Bengals’ first-round pick in 2025, and Myles Murphy, who is now eligible for a contract extension. Murphy is coming off his best season as a pro, while fans are still waiting for Stewart to break out.

Rapien said Stewart is the most likely option while clarifying that he ultimately does not think any of them will make that top 10 list next season. I agree with Rapien. The conversation surrounding Stewart out of Texas A&M was that he was a talented, high-ceiling pass rusher. You could not use his statistics as evidence of why he was a good player; you had to look at his frame and film because his statistics were nearly nonexistent.

If there is a player on Cincinnati’s defense who could take a huge leap forward this upcoming season, it is Stewart. He was drafted under the same assumption as Amarius Mims: as a player with a high ceiling that needed to be tapped. It likely was not the Bengals’ expectation that he would be a key contributor in 2025, and having Trey Hendrickson allowed them to make such a decision. The drama surrounding Hendrickson was difficult to plan for.

It also would not surprise me if Mafe has a good enough season to make a case for inclusion on this list. He was buried on Seattle’s defensive line in terms of talent, alongside players such as DeMarcus Lawrence, Byron Murphy and Leonard Williams. Mafe could come in and be a key piece of Cincinnati’s defensive line.