Jason Licht Has Fun With (Rueben Bain’s) Short Arms
May 5th, 2026
Tired of short-arm chatter.
Joe is absolutely exhausted with all this talk about short arms. And it seems Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht is, too.
Licht appeared today on “The Pat McAfee Show,” seen on BSPN and YouTube. No matter how many interviews Licht does in the wake of the 2026 draft, he’s asked about first-round draft pick Rueben Bain’s alleged short arms.
McAfee asked the question in a different way, asking Licht if Bain’s short arms were just a matter of a football player playing football — and his arm length is just empty chatter?
So Licht decided to have fun with measurements.
“You know, that short-arm thing I’ve seen that movie before,” Licht said, half-joking, half-irked at the subject. “And it’s called [former Bucs center] A.Q. Shipley playing a decade in the league. And Rueben’s arms are a lot longer than A.Q.’s and huge. Probably by about five inches. But when you factor in [Bain’s] get-off and his power, I think it added about three inches.”
McAfee, always keen for a solid one-liner and knowing when to play the straight man, added, “Or maybe 10 inches.”
(Arm) Length doesn’t matter.
For those who don’t know about Shipley, he was a key backup offensive lineman during the 2020 Super Bowl season. He came off the bench and started at center when Ali Marpet had a concussion and Ryan Jensen slid over to left guard.
In Shipley’s second start, he stonewalled Aaron Donald in primetime on Monday Night Football. Shipley goose-egged Donald. No tackles, no assists, no sacks, no nuthin’ that night.
Just a tremendous performance by Shipley, who later was a Bucs assistant offensive line coach and is now a regular contributor on McAfee’s show.
Licht said he didn’t view Bain’s alleged short arms as a problem but did consider Bain a massive problem for opposing offenses. And then he threw a zinger at the folks who are obsessed with arm length.
Licht said he viewed Bain as “a game-wrecker at the college level. Now, he still has to prove himself at our level, and we’re excited to get started with that.
“But, you know, if you can’t play with short arms, then obviously the tackles in the ACC and the Big Ten and [tackles playing in] the playoffs, they didn’t get that memo,” Licht said.
If you can play football, you can play football. Joe gets why people push measurements and analytics, but at some point, just watch the damn tape. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.
This hand-wringing about Bain’s short arms? Chris Braswell has long arms.
That’s all you need to know.
"Everybody's got a prototype. And we kind of viewed him as a problem, not a prototype. … We just saw him as a game wrecker."
—Buccaneers GM @jasonrlicht on drafting Rueben Bain Jr. 🏈
(via @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/UvdaOWPog7
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) May 5, 2026
May 5th, 2026 at 4:35 pm
These guys just need to something to talk about
If it’s not Rueben Bain arm length, it’s D’Angelo Ponds height
They get payed outrageous salaries to sit around and discuss something stupid
Only in America
May 5th, 2026 at 4:43 pm
If Ruben Bain’s have stopped growing, this is no longer a story….
May 5th, 2026 at 4:43 pm
Arms
May 5th, 2026 at 4:46 pm
“””paid
May 5th, 2026 at 4:48 pm
I hope Bain does well, but he wasn’t even a double digit sack guy at the collegiate level, so Idk why he would be that at the NFL level.
I see alot of pressures in his future
May 5th, 2026 at 4:51 pm
im excited to see what bain has to offer that being said going up against nfl players is not the same as going up against acc or big 10 players. hopefully there wont be growing pains but you cant rule it out
May 5th, 2026 at 4:54 pm
How old is this picture of Jason Licht ?
10 years at least
May 5th, 2026 at 5:15 pm
Nickname for Bain: T-Rex
May 5th, 2026 at 5:44 pm
Speaking of Licht, he looks like he lost some weight…
May 5th, 2026 at 5:49 pm
Erik..
Did you watch any games Bain played in college? Im guessing not.
May 5th, 2026 at 5:56 pm
I think I remember someone posting here saying Braswell has long arms, right after the draft. Hmmm
May 5th, 2026 at 6:00 pm
Measure his thighs and calves.
The guy has tree trunks for legs!
Which is everything in football.
Just look at Wirfs.
How in the world did so many teams pass on Wirfs? The man has the greatest legs in the history of humanity.
Bain has THICK legs.
He is going to mess people up.
And he will improve over the next 4 years.
I’m stoked to see Kancey, Vea and Bain rushing inside on 3rd down.
With Yaya and Mohammed rushing from OLB.
It’s gonna be sick!
May 5th, 2026 at 6:02 pm
I still want see him in Pro Bowl Flag Football. Obviously he will be in the Pro Bowl according to JBF.
May 5th, 2026 at 6:51 pm
Like Taylor Lewan said the bend the ankle flexibility is going to be a problem in the league exciting times in tampa go bucs.
May 5th, 2026 at 8:02 pm
Yeah but how is Bain’s backside? If you’ve got junk in your trunk you have thrust in your rush.
May 5th, 2026 at 8:31 pm
Jason Licht comments on Bain put to rest his shorts are not an issue for Jason Licht. I like when he said center Shipley had shorter arms than Defensive star Donald and completely shut him down. Measurements are for TV drama.
May 5th, 2026 at 8:50 pm
Bain is going to be a beast.
I hope we move him around quit a bit on the LOS. I want him rushing from the outside and in.
What a gift
May 5th, 2026 at 9:29 pm
Joe … ‘(Arm) Length doesn’t matter.’
In support of that Joe, President Abraham Lincoln (who was 6’4″ tall & had very long legs) was once asked how long a man’s legs should be. Honest Abe famously replied, “Long enough to reach from their waist to the ground”.
Maybe Rueben Bain needs to come up with something similar to explain to these media types how long his arms need to be to play NFL football.
May 5th, 2026 at 10:59 pm
TFL = sack
He had a lot of TFLs.
Not specialist… doesn’t need to come out on run downs.
May 5th, 2026 at 11:29 pm
Ben Bredesen has 31 1/8 inch arms. Shortest ever for an NFL linemen.
Apparently Licht likes short armed players.
I wanna see Bain and Bredesen matched up against each other.
T-Rex War! Helmets shoving against the others, unable to reach each other!
I’d watch that Utube video
Bain won’t have a problem.
May 5th, 2026 at 11:45 pm
Joe says: “This hand-wringing about Bain’s short arms? Chris Braswell has long arms.”
Touche!
May 5th, 2026 at 11:52 pm
@ Teacherman:
I agree with you. Contrary to popular belief, length doesn’t matter. It’s the thickness that counts.
May 6th, 2026 at 12:22 am
I don’t know. I’ve always heard the gals like long thick arms ?
Although I have been told they do feel girth is more important than length.
May 6th, 2026 at 10:29 am
“just watch the damn tape. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.”
Nailed it Joe! All the experts should keep it up though. I think it will ultimately just motivate him more to prove them wrong. I think he is already a bit ticked with having fallen to 15 in the draft. This could also be alot of fun for Licht and his receipt keeping. LOL
Go Bucs!
May 6th, 2026 at 1:24 pm
These guys are measured for almost everything for optimization and offsetting possibilities
We drafted him. Now either he produces ir we have to listen to this for years.
Just like jts not wanting to play football is also scary tissue for the next draft.
Funny thing is outliers have the most payoff
May 6th, 2026 at 2:41 pm
B-Rex is the man. Maybe he can forestall the Bowles-inspired demise for a game or 2 before becoming JTS-Bot.