The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a busy week. They have been conducting joint practices with the New York Jets and there have been no shortage of storylines.
Between Baker Mayfield slinging the ball around, the defense intercepting Geno Smith routinely and what seemed like a dozen fights there is plenty to talk about. However, none of those things are my biggest takeaway.
One of the matchups I was looking forward to the most coming into these practices was rookie edge rusher Rueben Bain going against the Jets offensive tackles. After impressing against his teammates, I wanted to see what the 15th overall pick could do against other NFL competition. After two days of joint practice, I didn’t walk away disappointed.
At this point it feels like Bain is ready to dominate for the Buccaneers.
Let’s preface the hyperbole with some context. Beating a third string undrafted free agent is not the same as beating a high end NFL player. The better competition you go against, the more impressive the victory.
Although the Jets are not a good team, they have invested high end resources into their offensive tackles. Left tackle Olu Fashanu was the 11th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. Then a year later, they selected right tackle Armand Membou with the seventh overall pick in 2025.
That’s premium draft capital invested into offensive tackles. Both have had a good start to their career, with Membou looking particularly impressive as a rookie last year. This is a budding duo that could be one of the NFL’s best in a few years.
This made for a great measuring stick for Bain. We have already seen the rookie have back and forth battles with teammate Luke Goedeke who is one of the better right tackles in the NFL. However, going against a real opponent feels different.
Despite going on the road and facing a new high end opponent, it seems like Bain has shown really well.
Jets reporter Connor Hughes tweeted out this about Bain’s performance yesterday. “Rueben Bain is having quite the practice vs Armand Membou. Have him for two sacks and quite a bit of pressure. Membou struggling with him.”
Nick Faria of Sports Illustrated also reported that Membou struggled with Bain saying “Armand Membou who got beat a couple times by Bain.”
It was also reported by Pewter Report that Bain had a good win against Fashanu as well. They also reported multiple tackles for loss by Bain of the first day of the two practices.
Three different sources, one common result. Reuben Bain has been a problem for everyone he has matched up against. His power, flexibility and pass rush plan already look high end and we are seeing it flash early against some of the better offensive tackles in the NFL.
I don’t want hype or hyperbole to get out of control. This is still a rookie who is yet to play his first preseason game, let alone take his first regular season snap. But I’d be lying if there wasn’t a trend developing.
Bain looks ready to hit the ground running. If he can win against the likes of Membou and Goedeke, then he can win against 90% of offensive tackles in the NFL. Will that make him a dominating force as a rookie? Time will tell. But the way things look now, his rise to elite status feels like a matter of when and not a matter of if.
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