When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were gifted Rueben Bain Jr. in April's draft, it was considered a steal. Bain himself made it clear that he would make those teams that passed on him regret it. So far, no one is regretting anything.
Bain was a non-factor in week one against the Bengals. He registered no tackles and no assists. His consistency through two weeks is quite good because in Week 2, he didn't do any better.
Bain has yet to make an impact on the Buccaneers' defense, and fans are starting to get concerned. Is this something to worry about? It actually, sadly, might be.
Rueben Bain Jr. has been a disappointment for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
There are plenty of highlights, or lowlights, if you will, of Bain on social media. He isn't getting his job done, and every play looks like the last one.
Bain can't get off the block from the tackle, but that's only a small part of the problem. Again on Sunday, Bain was pushing the Browns' right tackle off the line, but he is working through power moves only. The tackle was able to walk him away from the pocket.
Making it worse, the opposition hasn't needed to double-up their blocking on him. Through two weeks the tackles are handling him one-on-one.
Bain isn't using any defensive moves. There are no swims or spins; his rush is strictly force, and that doesn't work at the NFL level, which might be because of his measurements.
Entering the draft season, Bain's measurements were considered a problem and a reason for his drop out of the top-10. Many draft pundits believed that his arms were too short. In preseason, he proved that wasn't the case, but in those games, he wasn't always playing or practicing against first-team talent.
Over the course of the first two weeks, Bain is proving them right. His inability to get around the offensive lineman is allowing them to get their hands on his chest and keep him out of the backfield. Bain has to work on his pass rush tools.
No one would have believed that Bain would be sackless after two weeks, but if you had said he would have one single tackle in two games, you might have been laughed at hysterically. That's the case, though.
The Buccaneers are not getting what they expected from the University of Miami (Fl.) prospect. Cleveland should have been an opportunity to turn it around, but instead, it was another goose egg. If not for Yaya Diaby, David Walker, and several others, the Buccaneers' defense would be as non-existent as Bain.
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