An old Jon Gruden clip leaves no doubt about how he feels about the Bucs’ pick of Rueben Bain, Jr.
The former Tampa Bay coach is bullish on the Bucs’ first-round pick.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers badly needed pass rushing help going into the 2026 NFL Draft, and there’s no doubt they addressed that in a big way. The Bucs ended the fall of Miami EDGE Rueben Bain, Jr. in the first round, snagging him with pick No. 15.
It was a tremendous value pick for the Bucs, particularly given how Bain had been projected higher in a number of boards and mock drafts going into the offseason. A short arm length at the combine — 30 7/8 inches — has been oft-repeated as a concern by experts, and it appears some of those teams shared that worry.
Hogwash. At least, that’s the attitude that former Bucs coach Jon Gruden had a week before the draft.
Gruden posted a clip of himself discussing Bain, and he had him as a top four player in this class regardless of arm length.
Jon Gruden tabbed Rueben Bain, Jr. as a top four player before the 2026 NFL Draft
“Let’s go to Bain for a second because he’s one of my top four players in the draft,” Gruden said. “And you’re saying at DraftKings, what are you telling me about him going in the top five?
After the analyst confirms the odds of him going in the top five, Gruden makes it clear what he would do if he was drafting in the top five.
“We’re taking Bain in our top five,” Gruden said.
As another great former coach — Nick Saban — said after the pick, no one has had arms long enough yet to block Bain. With 83 QB pressures in 2025, he was simply unblockable week in and week out.
While some players have physical limitations or disadvantages compared to other players, some are just really good football players and find a way to minimize the impact those have on their game. We’ll find out this fall if Bain is one of those types of players for the Bucs.
