Why the Slide?: Rueben Bain Jr.

Why the Slide Series

Rueben Bain Jr., DE, Miami

Rnk: 10 SR PRP: 3 Ovr: 15. A

This series was created a number of years ago in response to questions about why certain well-known prospects went unselected in NFL drafts. For these articles, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player and/or the reasons other teams passed on that prospect. The positive response to “Why Undrafted” and questions from readers about why prospects were drafted lower than the media’s expectations led us to create the parallel series “Why the Slide?” and “Was it a Reach?”

The trio of series is back this year. Feel free to email me requests at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.

At the end of the 2025 season and throughout the lead-up to the 2026 NFL Draft, Rueben Bain Jr. was often projected to be one of the first players drafted. Some in the media even had Bain as the top player in the draft. Bain had a strong season as an edge rusher for Miami and helped lead the Hurricanes to the National Championship. However, NFL teams were not in complete agreement with that assessment, and Bain slid to the middle of the first round.

Sources from multiple teams provided some differing reasons. One, a few sources felt that Bain slid just because of the team’s need and preference in the top 14. Sources from a couple of teams that passed on Bain said they had him a bit lower than the media consensus. During the season, we had a Hot Press that some teams saw him as a tackle/end tweener, and they did not see him as a true top-10 talent. Those factors combined to have Bain go lower than the media expected.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended Bain’s slide with the 15th-overall pick, and that was an excellent landing spot for Bain. Throughout his career, head coach Todd Bowles has been a very astute game planner and has been especially good at using front-seven defenders in a variety of ways. He has exotic and unique blitz packages, and Bain could be a weapon to hunt the quarterback from a variety of spots. With interior disruptors like Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey, Bain should have a good interior push to take away quarterbacks stepping up in the pocket. With proven pass rushers like Yaya Diaby and Al-Quadin Muhammad on the other side, offenses can’t just focus extra attention on Bain. Bain, Diaby, and Muhammad can rotate and keep each other fresh while also providing some veteran leadership to help teach Bain. While Bain is angry and disappointed that he slid in the draft, he landed in a great spot to establish a good NFL career.