It Seems Rueben Bain May Be Ahead Of Schedule
July 30th, 2026
Rueben Bain has a reason to smile this week.
Physically, rookie edge rusher Rueben Bain is not overmatched in his first NFL training camp.
Bain blew up a screen play single-handedly today. Got past the line, got past Cade Otton who was the last man standing to prevent Bain from getting to Baker Mayfield.
And Mayfield saw the Miami Mauler making a beeline to him. No sir, Mayfield said. He dirted the ball.
But to hear Bucs coach Todd Bowles, Bain could have blown that play up with his head as much as anything else. Bowles lauded Bain’s intelligence for the game.
“He’s a very smart player,” Bowles said. “His intelligence really shows when you see him – probably more than the toughness and the sack ability, and that’s saying a lot because he’s outstanding at that.
“But, picking up the system and just understanding things that a lot of rookies don’t understand coming in, he’s been great at that.”
So, Joe can only read that as Bain is a step or two ahead of the rest of the rookies. He practices like it. Bain is out there making more plays than vets.
Just another reason to be excited for Bain. He already has a decent grasp on Bowles’ defense — more than most rookies do.
July 30th, 2026 at 8:10 pm
Let’s hope the playbook says “Rush The Quarterback!”
July 30th, 2026 at 8:14 pm
Of course it does. Back when Bowles had Shaq Barrett he only dropped about 13% of the time. Got a couple key interceptions as a result, too.
July 30th, 2026 at 8:43 pm
So did Kenny Bell at this point!
July 30th, 2026 at 9:08 pm
Ahead of schedule? Bowles can fix that. He’ll suck the energy right out of him and mentally confuse the hell out of him with his “defensive guru” schemes and stunts!
July 30th, 2026 at 9:20 pm
Really? Wow!
Same speech they’ve said about every Dlineman that was their top pick.
JTS, Kancey, Hall, Spence, etc, etc.
Go back in the archives and look.
This time, they are partially right.
Bane will be a very goid Dline man. Size will keep him from being Great.
But very Good is better than everyone else we have not named VEA
July 30th, 2026 at 9:31 pm
haha he said Kenny Bell. Good one
July 30th, 2026 at 9:52 pm
When you can hit on a need and BPA all in one player. You can tell the difference between a kid that loves what football can do for him, and a kid that loves the game itself. Bain is the latter.
Off topic, but rookie related, Joe. Did I see Trotter wearing the green dot?(???)
July 30th, 2026 at 9:57 pm
Never saw that. But wasn’t looking for that. Even with binoculars that would be hard to see.
July 30th, 2026 at 10:03 pm
It’s been 2 whole underwear practices.
July 30th, 2026 at 10:03 pm
“Never saw that. But wasn’t looking for that. Even with binoculars that would be hard to see.“
Fair enough. Was watching the “First Impressions” show on the team YT channel and could’ve swore I saw it on his helmet. Pretty sure he wore the green dot at Mizzou, but idk if he had that responsibility at WVU.
July 30th, 2026 at 10:23 pm
Bucs have cameras right on the field. During warmups, they are right next to a lot of players. Reporters, at best, can only get within yards of the sideline.
July 30th, 2026 at 10:55 pm
This below is then reason the team list respect and started disliking Todd Bowles. These are his words after losing to the Patriots in 2025. This infuriated me….
On substituting CB Benjamin Morrison in for CB Jamel Dean on certain drives)
“We’ve been putting him in all year, so the fact that he gave up this play in this game, there’s no reason to single him out. We’re getting him reps and Dean knows we get him reps – he gets reps. We have a system that we go with.
July 30th, 2026 at 11:07 pm
We already knew that Ruben was more than ready for the NFL days after he came to Tampa. That head of his holds a lot inside for the game, and you don’t get through college without a real good brain, not chugging beers and the other things. He’s going to be great really soon!!!!!
I Love Him Already, tossing sleds was great to hahaha.!!!
July 31st, 2026 at 3:17 am
There’s really only one thing that needs to be said and I’m sure it’s said it All before now and up until this point and this one word is :
” BAIN! ” … THE PERFECT NAME for a QB hunter…
July 31st, 2026 at 7:22 am
Glad he’s mentally ahead of schedule, however getting past Cade Otten isn’t a huge task. Everyone gets past Mr. OLAY!
July 31st, 2026 at 8:00 am
Sounds great how he’s doing in training camp but he is still is a rookie. Hopefully last year’s injuries are behind us and the Bucs defense improves with its new players. The learning curve for rookies adjusting to the NFL takes lots of repetition and time.
July 31st, 2026 at 8:26 am
Jameis was a very smart player. He just had an vision of things he could do on the field that didn’t match what he could actually physically perform in the real world.
Let’s not get too far out ahead of ourselves here. Let’s see what Bain does after around 17 Sundays before forming an opinion.
July 31st, 2026 at 8:44 am
Can’t wait to see it. Bowles saying it no longer means much to me and…No I am not on the fire Bowles bandwagon. He has blown too much smoke for me to trust much of what comes out of his mouth anymore. Plus its flag football.
July 31st, 2026 at 9:22 am
First time I’ve seen him smile.
July 31st, 2026 at 9:50 am
Jake been there———-You don’t get through college without a real good brain? I like your optimism!