Todd Bowles Details Rueben Bain Usage
May 2nd, 2026
Bucs DL Rueben Bain.
Landing Rueben Bain last week in the draft was an interesting pick on several levels.
Yes, Joe watched Bain play last year. He was ruthless. His play in the playoffs damn near got Miami a national title. He was that good.
But Bain played defensive end in a 43 defense. Joe never did notice Bain playing defense the way you would expect Bucs coach Todd Bowles will sometimes play him.
Remember, Bowles runs a 34 defense. So an edge rusher is the outside linebacker. Joe never envisioned Bain playing outside linebacker.
Joe’s not saying Bain cannot defend the pass, but can you see Bain covering tight ends and perhaps running backs? (Please don’t get started on OLBs covering receivers on this Saturday morning.)
Just knowing Bowles’ defense, Bain often seems more of an inside guy on the line than an outside linebacker.
Apparently, Joe’s not hallucinating. Bowles himself told SiriusXM NFL Radio this week Bain will see action inside.
“He has violent hands and he can play all across the front for us, which he will,” Bowles said with authority. “He has very violent hands and he understands how to rush the passer. There’s one thing having long arms and short arms and everything else, but if you don’t understand how to rush the passer, you know, both of ’em are aren’t any good anyway.”
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN broke down how teams plan to use their top draft picks and said the same thing. His breakdown noted how the Bucs looked at former Vikings pass rusher Jonathan Greenard, who was traded to the Eagles for two third-round picks, but didn’t pull the trigger. That frosts Joe.
As bad as the Bucs edge rush was — and was before Bain was drafted — the Bucs “looked” at a guy like you’re shopping for a pickup at Bill Currie Ford?
It reminds Joe of an old Bear Bryant story. Bryant put a player in the game in a tight spot and Bryant told the player what he wanted him to do.
The player told Bryant, “I’ll try, sir.”
Bryant erupted. He grabbed the kid before he could run on the field and hollered, “TRY? I don’t want you to try, son! I want you to DO!”
Bryant pulled the kid off the field, lost immediate faith in him and his playing days at Alabama never panned out.
Teams without an edge rush have no room to be picky, unless they are playing for next year’s draft.
May 2nd, 2026 at 7:43 am
I have a feeling Bain will be a good player but I have no faith Bowles will put him in the best position to be most effective. Remember when Bowles put AW at nickel? Just to move him back to his natural position where he became all-pro.
Once again, at every level, Bowles decision making is nonsensical and his adjustments are slow to come if they come at all.
May 2nd, 2026 at 8:08 am
The Bucs have lacked an edge rushers for the last 4 years. With Bain you won’t see all of Bowles insane blitzes. Bowles had to create pressure because a lack of edge rushers. If Bain IS THAT MAN expect a much improved defense
May 2nd, 2026 at 8:09 am
It’s not Rocket Science Bowles. Just let Bains take off n play the way he did in college then Bucs 2025 edge problem is solved. If Bowles screw this up then he’s done during or after the season.
May 2nd, 2026 at 8:14 am
Poor B-Rex has no chance playing for the Bowleso.
May 2nd, 2026 at 8:21 am
Joe says don’t get started….but cues it up…..here come all the coverage comments. Not saying they aren’t warranted…..but still boring & repetitive
May 2nd, 2026 at 8:24 am
Bee … The first year (2019) Bowles came here, an OLB somewhat smaller than Reuben Bain named Shaq Barrett joined the Bucs. In his first 4 years with Denver, Shaq had a total of 14 sacks & 35 QB hits.
Under Todd’s use, Shaq got 19.5 sacks plus 37 QB hits in his first year as a Buc … more than he’d gotten in his first 4 years in Denver combined. No question in my mind that what made a huge difference that year is that our interior DLine consisted of Vea, Suh, Gholston, RNR & Beau Allen. Plus having JPP at the other OLB was a nice bonus. Point being: Bowles’ defenses seem to work best when (1) they’re ‘beefy’ and (2) have some high quality veterans in there.
Well, I think the Bucs have done a commendable job of trying to replicate that this off-season. Vea of course is the only one still here, but I’m convinced that the addition of Robinson will add a ‘Suh-like presence’ to our DLine. I don’t think RNR will give us a huge number of def snaps, but when he’s in there, he makes his presence known. Both Robinson & RNR will have a significant impact IMO on the development of both Capehart & Roberts this season.
Still not sure how Bowles will use Kancey, but I sure do hope he spends minimal snaps lining up next to Vea. Move him a bit further down the line & I’m convinced he’ll not only survive longer, but also be much more effective. Missing 22 games in his first 3 years doesn’t impress me.
May 2nd, 2026 at 8:56 am
Too soon cut down day roster:
Offense (23 Players)
Quarterbacks (2): Baker Mayfield, Jake Browning
Running Backs (3): Bucky Irving, Kenneth Gainwell, Sean Tucker,
Wide Receivers (6): Chris Godwin Jr., Jalen McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Ted Hurst, Tez Johnson, Kameron Johnson
Tight Ends (3): Cade Otton, Payne Durham, Bauer Sharp
Offensive Linemen (9): Tristan Wirfs (T), Ben Bredeson (G), Graham Barton (C), Cody Mauch (G), Luke Goedeke (T), Ben Chukwuma (T), Justin Skule (T), Dan Feeney (G), Billy Schrauth (G)
Defense (27 Players)
Defensive Tackles (6): Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, A’Shawn Robinson, Elijah Roberts, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, DeMonte Capehart
Outside LB/DE (6): Yaya Diaby, Rueben Bain Jr., Chris Braswell, Anthony Nelson, Al-Quadin Muhammad, David Walker
Inside Linebackers (4): Josiah Trotter, SirVocea Dennis, Alex Anzalone, Christian Rozeboom
Cornerbacks (7): Zyon McCollum, Benjamin Morrison, Jacob Parrish, Keionte Scott, Josh Hayes, Chase Lucas, Kemon Hall
Safeties (4): Antoine Winfield Jr., Tykee Smith, Miles Killebrew, J.J. Roberts
Specialists (3): Chase McLaughlin K, Riley Dixon P, Evan Deckers LS
Special teams core players: Killebrew, Lucas, Hall, Braswell, Bauer, Durham, Nelson, Johnson, Tucker, Dennis, Trotter
Practice Squad: Connor Bazelak QB, Josh Williams RB, Michael Wiley RB, David Sills WR, Garrett Greene WR, Ko Keift TE, Devin Culp TE, Luke Haggard OL, Elijah Klein OL, Haggai Ndubuisi DT (International Player exemption), Elijah Simmons DT, Nick Jackson ILB, Mohamed Kamara OLB, Damarion Williams CB, Marcus Banks S, and 2 undrafted rookies from this class.
May 2nd, 2026 at 9:11 am
You’ve got to look at Bain as a part of the equation, and not the answer to our pass rush problems. There’s more for him to do, and I’m most excited about some of the combos we’ll be able to put together on the LOS.
I like the idea of a 5-man front with Capehart-Vea-Robinson flanked by any combo of OLBs whether it be Yaya/Walker/Bain/AQM.
A speedier/leaner front with say, Walker-Bain-Kancey-Diaby
Or a bulkier 4-man front with Bain-AQM-Vea-Diaby
Looking forward to Joes training camp notes and hearing a lot of mixing and matching in our personnel on the defensive line. The more, the better imo so we can go into the season with some confident in a handful of different personnel groupings.
I was as excited as anybody about Bain falling to us, but I don’t want to trick myself into thinking he alone is going to solve problems that all of our other guys who were either retained or brought in to fix as well.
From what I’ve seen of AQM, with him/Bain on the edge and the other on the inside makes me excited just thinking about it. They got together like a hammer & a trigger
May 2nd, 2026 at 9:16 am
Bowles only knows the 3-4 defense. What do you expect?
May 2nd, 2026 at 9:16 am
The reality of the situation is that Bowles no longer has the capacity to create a coherent defensive scheme. Unless you enjoy watching bottom tier QBs shred your defense again and again and again.
Everyone willing to believe their eyes knows this to be true. Pom Pom waivers aside.
Hope in one hand and Bowles in another.
Those WRs 40 yards down the field won’t cover themselves. Just send a DE to do it. Works like a charm.
May 2nd, 2026 at 9:32 am
Doesn’t matter what you call the defense. What matters is max pressure on the opponent. QB hurries are important. Not allowing a QB to get his feet set, a receiver to get fully into his route and forcing interceptions are obvious examples of why hurries are just as important as sacks.
May 2nd, 2026 at 9:35 am
As with any coach, ours will only be as good as the players they have, When we had JPP, Shaq, Sue, a younger LVD, we were pretty good.
Last year we probably had the worst players since the Lost Decade. I’m optimistic this bunch will do far better.
And when someone uses “Pom-Pom” wavers as a derogatory term, that’s the Aqualing scraping the bottom of the barrell again. Sock puppet!
May 2nd, 2026 at 9:49 am
Right on, Lynch.
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:00 am
Greenard had just three sacks last year, a big drop on the two years before. Also injured and wanted a big, new contract. Why are you acting like the Bucs should have been desperate to trade two third round picks for him?
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:04 am
Unless Todd changes, expect him to be used in coverage at least 30% of the time. Hopefully hes changed and i am wrong….but past behavior usually predicts future behavior…..guess we’ll know after a few games.
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:04 am
The 3-4:defense is the Bucs base defense
But they are capable of switching defensively on a fly
They can shift to 2-4-5, 4-2-5, 3-3-5 at any point without substitution
It all depends on the offensive personnel they’re facing
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:06 am
I personally think with the new defensive players
The 4-2-5 is their best defense to attack an offense
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:15 am
Reminds me of your Haason Reddick obsession which turned out terribly. At least Licht didn’t trade a premium pick for him…
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:17 am
Toilet Bowls thinks he’s smarter than he actually is. If he gets cute with Bain, I am all for Bain to get in his face and chew him out for misusing him. Bain doesn’t look like the quiet soldier type of guy. He will tell you what’s on his mind.