According to the biography of Howie Longs, he went to Milford High school of Milford in Massachusetts and he is the member for the Milford Hall of Fame. He was all-around athlete and he was playing in Football, track and basketball. He also went to Christopher Columbus High School.

For college, he played for Villanova University and he got the degree in the communication. He was a four-year letterman of Villanova and he was chosen to play for Blue-Gray Football Classic and he was named as MVP of 1980. When he was still a freshman, he had 99 tackles, when he was a sophomore, he was in the sacks with other fives and he recorded over 78 tackles. In the next season of 1979, he suffered injury on his tight and he did not play in three games and he ended the season with over 46 tackles.

When he was a senior, he was able to lead the wildcats and in the sacks with four and 84 tackles. He started at the tight end and he moved to the Defensive life when he finished playing as noseguard for two seasons. After he moved to the defensive end, he earned the All-East honors and he got honorable mention in All-American by the senior year. Howie Longs was also a boxer for Villanova and he was at Northern Collegiate for Heavyweight boxing champion.

Howie Longs was drafted in the second round at the NFL draft of 1981 under Oakland Raiders. He continued to play for over 13 seasons within the club and he was wearing the number 75. He became a fearsome force because of the combination of his quickness, strength and size. He played in the Raiders Defensive line and he earned Pro Bowl Selection. He had some aspiration when he was still early in the career and he told Football Digest in the interview that he wanted to achieve financial security and he wished to be among the people of Hall of Fame.

Howie Longs is Roman Catholic and he is married and they have three sons. The older son is called Chris and he plays as a defensive end of New England Patriots. The middle son called Kyle is playing in Chicago Bears. His wife is Diane Addonizio and they got married in the year 1982. His net worth is 16 million.

When he retired away of the NFL after finishing 1993 season, he pursued the acting career and he was focusing more on the action movies such as Firestorm of 1998.