Kansas City Chiefs show interest in 2026 draft standout who was recently touted as a future All-Pro under DL coach Joe Cullen
The Kansas City Chiefs are continuing to meet with top prospects ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft, bringing in Miami EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. to the team facility for a top-30 visit. This comes just days after former NFL DT Gerald McCoy championed Bain as a future All-Pro if he were to be coached by Joe Cullen.
The Kansas City Chiefs continue to host prospects leading up to Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Chiefs will host Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. in Kansas City for a top-30 visit today. This comes just days after the team hosted 37 prospects for their annual local pro day. This marks the 11th confirmed visit of the Chiefs’ 30 allotted pre-draft visits.
During the visit, they’ll seek to get to know the player better, both as a football player and as a person. It’ll be the second time the Chiefs have met with Bain during the pre-draft process. They had a confirmed formal interview at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine.
“I felt like I had a real strong interview,” Bain Jr. said, via KC Star columnist Sam McDowell.
The 6-foot-3 and 275-pound edge rusher is one of the top players at his position, but he’s also polarizing. Bain’s arm length measured 30 7/8 inches at the combine. Those measurements would be a major historical outlier in terms of NFL success at the edge-rusher position.
There’s little denying his success in college, though. In three seasons with the Hurricanes, he recorded 33.5 tackles for loss, 20.5 sacks, and 156 pressures. The talking point on his arm length remains a hotly debated topic.
Former NFL star Gerald McCoy believes that Bain could become an All-Pro under Chiefs DL coach Joe Cullen
Ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers DT Gerald McCoy believes that Bain’s arm length is a legitimate problem for some defensive line coaches. He’s talked to D-Line coaches, trainers, and players across the league about it. However, he remains fervent in his belief that good coaching can be the difference here.
McCoy took to X to further elaborate on the type of coach that could make a difference. He named a familiar face for Kansas City Chiefs fans.
“Rueben Bain will be just fine with the right coaches. The statement I made about coaches worried about it is because they don’t know how to coach it. Send him to Joe Cullen and guarantee he’ll be all-pro. BUT everybody ain’t Joe Cullen.”
Former Buccaneers dt Gerald mccoy
X (Formerly Twitter)
McCoy, of course, played for Cullen with the Bucs in 2014 and 2015. He recorded 8.5 sacks in each of his two years working under Cullen. They were two of his most productive pass-rushing seasons as a professional. McCoy knows better than anyone what a coach like Cullen can get out of a player like Bain.
As for the arm-length historical outlier, Bain actually compares favorably to former Chiefs edge rusher Melvin Ingram. They both measure around 6-foot-3 and 260ish pounds, with a 77-inch wingspan. Ingram actually worked under now-Chiefs linebackers coach Brendan Daly and not Cullen. Still, the success Ingram had should give Steve Spagnuolo confidence that Cullen can get Bain to produce in Kansas City.
