Arms are generally an important measurement for pass-rushers because they represent one of the main lines of defense against toolsy offensive tackles. Pass protectors who win the reach battle can lock on and neutralize would-be pass rushers with relative ease. Short arms on a pass rusher invites this disadvantage.<\/p>\n
At the same time Bain and Howell each represent two of the best pass-rushing talents in the class. Given their extremely poor arm measurements it\u2019s likely they were losers of the arm length battles throughout their college careers, yet they still found a way to succeed. It\u2019s a true battle of film vs projection with these two prospects.<\/p>\n
The poor measurements will very likely knock Bain and Howell down some teams\u2019 draft boards this spring. Even though both rushers’ film showed arm length has not been an issue, measurements like this are about projection to the next level.<\/p>\n
Will McClay recently explained, \u201ctraits can get you in trouble\u201d<\/a> when discussing athletic testing, yet he himself is known to set preferred thresholds at various positions. It’s difficult to tell where he stands on this specific issue. In data collected between 2011 and 2023, the shortest armed pass rusher the Cowboys have drafted checked in at 32.1 inches. Short isn’t a gamble Dallas usually makes, yet, pass rushers of this quality rarely fall into their laps.<\/p>\n Bain, No 2. overall on Pro Football Focus\u2019 draft board, rated as the top edge rusher of his class across multiple draft platforms. Even in the pre-combine days it was clear arm length was a negative factor for him, but Bain\u2019s style of play overcame that deficiency since he rarely squares up chest-to-chest against opposing blockers and uses angles, athleticism, and fundamentals to win battles on the edge.<\/p>\n Even still, the standout traits of Arvell Reese, David Bailey and Styles could be enough to bump Bain from the top of the elite hierarchy to the bottom, paving the way for his availability outside the top 10. This outcome could work wonderfully in the Cowboys\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n Prior to the NFL combine, Howell was projected to go inside the top 20. Just a week ago he only had a 35% chance of falling to Dallas at 20.<\/a> After measuring so short he\u2019s likely to fall considerably if for no other reason than added risk. If the Cowboys can\u2019t get Bain at 12, they stand a good chance of snagging Howell at 20.<\/p>\n The Cowboys are in need of a plug-and-play pass rusher this draft cycle. Aside from James Houston and Donovan Ezeiruaku, who\u2019s recovering from hip surgery<\/a>, the Cowboys\u2019 cupboards are bare on the edge. Both Bain and Howell have double-digit sack potential and, according to scout Lance Zierlein<\/a>, seem like good fits as edge rushers (OLBs) in 3-4 schemes.<\/p>\n Sometimes bad testing can be a good thing, and when looking at the Bain and Howell situations, it could be a very good thing\u2026for the Cowboys.<\/p>\n You can follow Reid on X\u00a0@ReidDHanson<\/a>\u00a0and be sure to follow\u00a0Cowboys Wire on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 2, 2026, 6:40 p.m. CT The 2026 NFL scouting combine saw rise to many draft prospects this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[95878,230,229,257,2461,7,6,96666,96667,95882,95930,96027,97562,95896,95888,95895,96684,95899,96099,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-788004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcowboys","16":"tag-sstsncowboys","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","19":"tag-tagcollege-sports","20":"tag-tagjames-houston","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","25":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","26":"tag-tagsec-conference-football","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116162746630066030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772502733_488_86373428007-square-1.jpg\")