Many in the media are dissecting the performance of Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie first round draft pick Rueben Bain Jr., who was the definition of invisible in the Bucs' 33-27 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the opening week of the 2026 NFL regular season.
Bain got completely neutralized by a Bengals offensive line that looked a lot better to start the new season than they did at any point last season. Meanwhile, Joe Burrow answered one of his biggest criticisms as a young star quarterback in the league by getting the ball out very quickly, leaving Bain with no chance to get at the quarterback, even when he did get a slight step on the Bengals tackles.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Rueben Bain Jr. is dealing with overreactions after Week 1
Although Bain Jr. looked small and almost seemed to play into those criticisms about his short arms, which led to him falling to Tampa Bay with the No. 15 overall pick in the first place even though he had previously been touted as a top five pick by draft gurus, the overreactions about the best player in college football from the 2025 season have been appalling.
Most rookie pass rushers aren't amazing, and it definitely is not out of the ordinary at all for a rookie pass rusher to look overmatched in his first game. And although Bain Jr. should be criticized for playing poorly and not registering a single meaningful stat, it is interesting how Bain has been the subject of all the criticism while Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals offensive line aren't actually getting their fair credit for playing a great game.
Everyone loves to build up a young player just to tear them down, and, unfortunately, that seems to be what is happening to Bain Jr. after just one game. Nobody should have been crowning Bain Jr. as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense before he even played a professional snap, but to act overly "concerned" and throw around labels like "bust" already after one game is even more hypocritical and probably worse, given Bain Jr. has more reasons to be touted after what he did in college and in the preseason than reasons to be doubted after one rough outing against an opponent that literally did the best it could against him.
Bain will have another tough test in Week 2 against the new look Cleveland Browns offensive line, and that will be another measuring mark for him.
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