When the kids Direct Message Bengals rookie Howard Cross III, or even the college defensive tackles who are deemed too short, and they ask how he got here, he gives them the same advice his Super Bowl champion dad gave him.
"Run to the ball," Cross says. "That sounds goofy. Sounds stupid. But …"
That's what he did in the third grade as a second-stringer in sideways sleet when he knew nothing from nothing except that the coach told him to get in there when the kid in front of him was crying because it was so cold, and he ended up making every tackle. It's what the college recruiters who traveled to Montvale, N.J. told him. "We like the way you run to the ball." It's what the NFL scouts liked about him before last spring's draft. "You really run to the ball."
It's why he's got a shot to make the Bengals after Saturday's preseason finale (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19) at Paycor Stadium against the Colts.
"He does it the way you want it done," the coaches tell you. "He's going to exactly play the technique that you coach. He's going to do everything that he can do the way that we need it done … Undersized guy who uses every ounce of leverage and strength and quickness to maximize the results."
Or, as defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery says about his good camp, "He works hard, he's nowhere near a finished product, but for his size, the guy is playing bigger than you think … he knocks back the line of scrimmage. He does a good job with the rush games and stuff. He wins edges on the guard. Playing defense is like putting a puzzle together. Everybody has a job and every piece goes to a certain spot, and when guys don't do that, it's hard to be successful."
The 6-1, 285-pound Cross is in quite a roster tractor pull with players from across the NFL demographic. The 6-4, 291-pound Taven Bryan is a 29-year-old former No. 1 pick. The 6-3, 319-pound Eric Gregory, like Cross, a college free agent rookie, played 61 games in six seasons at Arkansas. That's if they keep five defensive tackles. If it's four, someone has to hurdle McKinnley Jackson, last year's third-round pick.
Cross, a mainstay on Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden's national runner-up defense at Notre Dame, became a South Bend staple in 65 games during six seasons racking up 30.5 plays behind the line of scrimmage with an undergraduate degree in industrial design and a master's in business.
Howard Cross Jr., his dad, a 13-year NFL tight end, and current sideline reporter for the Giants Radio Network, can break it down as well as anyone. A natural three-technique, Cross III played nose tackle out of necessity for the Fighting Irish and fought through injuries to help them get to the date with the Buckeyes. His dad wondered aloud about the upcoming NFL scouting combine and the ensuing draft process, but his son was adamant about winning it all.
"The great thing about him is his willingness to do anything for the team," the elder Cross says. "Playing on a bad hamstring, a bad ankle, and he's like, 'We're going to the national championship.' I'm like, 'OK … I'm all for you. You've got your degree, so you go do whatever you think is best.' He stayed in there, he played hard, he fought through it. Like he said, they went to a national championship. If they had all their guys, they may have even had a chance. That was impressive."
Cross III is a product of the post-Aaron Donald Era, where short is not a disqualifier inside. The era began, really, when the Bengals took a 6-1 D-Tackle in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. The son of a former NFL player, Geno Atkins put together a Pro Football Hall of Fame resume with the most interior sacks of the decade of the 2010s.
By the 2014 draft, Atkins had been voted to both an All-Pro first- and second-team, so it wasn't all that outrageous that the 6-1 Donald went 13th to the Rams.
"Everybody has something to say about size," Cross III says. "I heard it when I was getting recruited out of high school. Same thing with the NFL. A lot of people said stuff like, 'Fantastic player. Good get-off. Some of the best technique I've seen. Just not big enough.'
"That's how the NFL was. But ever since Aaron Donald, everybody's like, 'Oh, that doesn't matter anymore.' There are a lot of D-Tackles my size or shorter having a lot of success. It's really just technique and natural leverage. Nothing beats leverage."
He's watched Atkins and Donald tape, and that of the 6-1 Grady Jarrett. He's been particularly attentive to a guy closer to his age, Tampa Bay's 6-0 Calijah Kancey, the 19th pick in the 2023 draft.
"If you get my elbow," Cross III says of the leverage game, "even you are going to stand me up. It's a pressure point."
He grew up among Giants like Amani Toomer and Tiki Barber and Eli Manning. He watched his dad's tape, but was sentenced to the offensive and defensive lines after he dropped everything at tight end in his first high school practice.
But Cross still longs to be like his dad and guys like Justin Tuck. Not just because Tuck was an All-Pro defensive tackle. But because he became a baller in business as a vice president at Goldman Sachs after he was All-Pro. Not just because his dad had 201 NFL catches despite being a blocking tight end. But because he's a commercial realtor as well as a broadcaster.
"I was raised by a dad who's in the league, who has been around the league, in business especially," Cross III says. "And I grew up with the mentality of football is great, football is awesome. But football also stands for not for long. No matter what you do, whether you play two years or 20 years, you have to go do something. He's 13 years in the league and still working."
The Crosses are straight from Bengals founder Paul Brown's creed of a life's work after football. Howard III was literally born into it.
Six weeks after he and his twin sister were born, the second plane flew over their Jersey City condo and smashed into the World Trade Center. Mother and father felt the shock from the explosion across the river, and they scrambled to get the babies out of there. It was about that time that Giants tight end Howard Cross Jr. decided the 2001 season would be his last.
"I could have played maybe a few more years, but I just didn't have it in me anymore. I'm out," Cross recalls. "I finished my commitment. But I wanted to be there for them to try to make them safe. I mean, we're talking about infants."
So it's no coincidence that one of those babies ended up looking for colleges as much as football. Duke, Northwestern, Stanford. He had his notes app all set for signing day to announce he was headed to Virginia Tech when Notre Dame called to offer.
"To me," Cross III says, "that was the pinnacle."
Now there is the next pinnacle to be had. He can see a broadcasting career ("I've never really been shy in front of a mic"), or even dabbling as a culinary chef seeking Michelin stars. But all that is on the backburner. Football has his complete and entire focus.
So do the Colts.
"My mentality is just, realistically, go out and it's time to have fun," says Cross, still running to the ball. "I'm extremely hard on myself. There's nothing a coach or anybody can tell me that I haven't told myself ten times worse."
