Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie pass rusher Rueben Bain Jr. may not have played a single snap in the NFL regular season yet, but the Miami Hurricanes product is already up there with the best offseason additions of any kind this year.
The Buccaneers badly needed a new pass rusher to lead the way, and with their most disruptive rusher, Vita Vea from the nose tackle position, potentially leaving via a trade, Bain Jr. and his nasty streak off the edge are about to be even more important to the Buccaneers success in 2026.
Tampa Bay are a wounded animal after blowing the NFC South to the rival Carolina Panthers after sustaining multiple brutal divison rivalry losses down the stretch of the season when they should have had the division wrapped up with a third consecutive playoff bid under Baker Mayfield's rule at quarterback.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Rueben Bain Jr. has no issues with his arms
There were so many issues with the Buccaneers, but one of their biggest was the defense giving quarterbacks too much time to pick them apart. Just look at how easily Matthew Stafford and even Kirk Cousins shredded them up, and their only known edge rusher last season was Yaya Diaby.
Rueben Bain Jr. is here to save the day as a seasoned Floridian with a mean streak and the best 2025 college football season of literally anyone in the country. The first round steal is already showing to the rest of the NFL what they missed out on during joint practics with the New York Jets, embarrassing their offensive tackles and outshining Jets edge rushing prospect David Bailey, whom they took over Bain Jr., in a way that almost seems Michael Jordan levels of personal.
So many draft analysts fell for the bait this year, bashing Bain for his short arms and saying he could never make it in the NFL with them, and maybe some teams believed that rubbish, too, which the Buccaneers should be very happy about since that led him to go to them in the first round with the 15th overall pick.
But with how easily and violently Bain Jr. swam by the Jets offensive tackles, imagine telling those guys who got beat up by the Buccaneers outside linebacker that his arms are too short to box with God (shoutout to CM Punk) - or the NFL, for that matter. Bain Jr. is a monster, and he is going to make the NFL scouts look like the misguided fools that they are.
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