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.
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:25 am
lol the narrative you guys create is 10/10 entertainment.
On the next episode…… Bowles and Licht get a stern talking to from their rookie draft pick on how to coach football hahah
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:30 am
Covering WR and RB?
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:37 am
Bucs 4-2-5
NT- Vita Vea
DT- Calijah Kancey
RDE- Yaya Diaby
LDE- Rueben Bain Jr
MLB – Josiah Trotter
SLB – Alex Anzalone
Rover- Keionte Scott
SS- Tykee Smith
FS- Antoine Winfield Jr
CB- Jacob Parrish
CB- Zyon McCollum
I believe we can get a lot of pressure with a 4 man rush with this defense
And l think our pass defense will improve a whole lot
Our run defense can be dominant
And we have enough depth at every position, to keep players fresh
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:40 am
Lakeland,
I like it. Why don’t you apply for DC job?
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:52 am
He wouldn’t be the first player miss used by Bowles, but hopefully he’ll be the last.
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:54 am
The reason the defense was better in 2020 was that Bowles had a real head coach for a boss. Without a boss, Bowles shows his incompetence at two jobs. It’s that simple.
May 2nd, 2026 at 11:02 am
Well at least we drafted one that has potential which Jason never has never come close to doing
May 2nd, 2026 at 12:02 pm
Bowles may be stubborn but he isn’t stupid. With the correct players his scheme is ornery and deceptive, I believe we have most (not all) of those players and we will have a bounce back year. I remember when the Bucs were playing the Cardinals when he was DC and I couldn’t get over how aggressive and nasty their defense was,……..he’s the same guy and we’ll get back to it.
May 2nd, 2026 at 12:35 pm
Translation… He s gonna cover the RB in the flat in 3rd & long
LOL
Go Bucs
May 2nd, 2026 at 12:53 pm
Too many choices for Bowles. He won’t know who to put on the field or when. Which formation does he run – 34, 43, 24, 42. Who is on the field? Is Bain DE or OLB? Where’s Kancey? Oh yeah, in the tub. Bain, Yaya, AQM, Walker, Braswell all rotating? it’s not complicated. But don’t worry, he’s got his arms folded watching it all.
May 2nd, 2026 at 12:59 pm
Todd Bowles is a rookie passer rusher career killer. He thinks he’s George Allen reincarnated; no rookie pass rusher survives Bowles. We can talk about veteran pickups all day long, but happens to draft and develop, not so much JST, Hall and even Cancy. Nothing! And it’s always the players fault not the coaches, not the coaching or not even the system just the players. I call cow chips Mr. DC/ HC and Mr. Bain Jr BEWARE there’s a career killer on the loose. Move over George!
May 2nd, 2026 at 1:07 pm
oops my bad, Mr. Kancey for misspelling your name.
May 2nd, 2026 at 1:09 pm
I like it Lakeland we could also go bigger and with Robinson next to Vea.
May 2nd, 2026 at 1:25 pm
Lakeland … Bucs 4-2-5
NT- Vita Vea
DT- Calijah Kancey
RDE- Yaya Diaby
LDE- Rueben Bain Jr
You obviously think a lot more of Kancey inside than I do Lakeland. Give me Robinson in place of him, or even better, in addition to Kancey (turn it into either a 5-2-4 or a 4-3-4).
I’d love to see a ‘heavy package’ that’s NT Vea, DT, Robinson, DT Capehart, DE Kancey, and 1 OLB (the 5-man front) or those first 4 with 2 ILBs plus 1 OLB. I wouldn’t blitz from the 5-man front, but with that 4-man front blitzing would be almost mandatory (just see which gap opens up, then send one of the ILBs or the OLB).
May 2nd, 2026 at 1:38 pm
So Bowles is going to take the best defensive 4-3 end in the draft, and move him inside? Genius! Hopefully the young man isn’t ruined before Todd’s fired.
May 2nd, 2026 at 1:40 pm
BadBucs … ‘Too many choices for Bowles. He won’t know who to put on the field or when.’
That’s not Todd Bowles issue at all IMO. His problem revolves around being dual-hatted. Look at 2023: Bowles had Canales running the offense, and Todd seemed to be content to let Canales do things his way, and he paid more attention to the defense it looked like. As a consequence, our defense was ranked #7 at the end of the season, giving up only 325 pts, the least since 2008 under Monte. It had relatively decent talent, and injuries were quite low.
Our offense under Coen did a LOT better in 2024 IMO, and Bowles again seemed to be largely hands-off the offense. Losing Devin White & Carlton Davis (both to free agency) hurt, as did losing Shaq to injury (only played 1 game). Defense ended up ranked #16, giving up 385 pts. We didn’t have the horses, and Bowles’ coaching couldn’t compensate for the lack of talent & the significant rise in injuries.
May 2nd, 2026 at 1:48 pm
Hodad … ‘So Bowles is going to take the best defensive 4-3 end in the draft, and move him inside? Genius!’
I’m with you, but I seriously doubt Bowles would do that. Bain only goes 6’2″ & 263 lbs; he doesn’t have any business playing inside DLine. I’m convinced that’s what’s gotten Kancey beaten up so much in his first 3 years. Kancey & Bain (and Diaby) can operate as DEs because of their size & quickness, but I really don’t ever want to see them in the middle of our DLine. We’ve got Vea & Robinson & RNR & Capehart & Roberts for that.
May 2nd, 2026 at 1:58 pm
Geno712 … Kudos; I think you nailed the 53-man roster, with 2 exceptions.
o The offense will keep 24 instead of 23 (add 1 TE but I’m unsure whether we’ll keep Kieft or Culp; leaning towards Kieft though).
o The defense will keep 26 instead of 27 (subtract 1 CB; my gut tells me we’ll add 1 veteran CB before Game 1, and that Lucas & Hall will probably end up on the Practice Squad).
May 2nd, 2026 at 2:30 pm
I see Jack is at it again. Can’t even understand simple logic.
We aren’t saying that no one is capable of being the HC as well as OC or DC.
The fact is that Bowels cannot do even one of those jobs, much less two.
Did you miss the 2025 season? It was example #4 of why Todd isn’t the right guy for the job.
Here’s hoping example #5 (2026) is the last one the Glazer kids force upon us.
May 2nd, 2026 at 2:38 pm
Media does influence things. Joe is right
May 2nd, 2026 at 2:55 pm
You just made my point. Have some imbecillin.
The successful teams have one man for one job. All of them. They might call plays on one side, but they have full time coordinators. The height of arrogance (or ignorance) is to think you can compete short handed and short sighted.
May 2nd, 2026 at 5:37 pm
Jack … ‘Is that a problem or is it a problem because it’s Todd ?’
I’ve written before Jack that some coaches can pull off being dual-hatted, but some others can’t. The ones who seem to do best IMO are those who have extremely strong coordinators on the other side of the ball; coordinators who can act very independently.
For instance, Stephen Spagnuolo has been the Chiefs’ DC since 2019, working with Andy Reid for those 7 years. His defenses there finished outside the Top-10 only once, and he’s had an average ranking of about 7.5 in those 7 years. In the Chiefs’ games I’ve watched, Andy Reid doesn’t seem to be overly concerned about his defense … Spanuolo’s got it.
May 2nd, 2026 at 5:41 pm
Its beyond creepy when Aqualung compliments himself through his sock puppet Lynchmob50.
May 2nd, 2026 at 6:55 pm
jcscycles Says:
May 2nd, 2026 at 5:41 pm
Its beyond creepy when Aqualung compliments himself through his sock puppet Lynchmob50.
That’s so true! Lol
May 2nd, 2026 at 9:21 pm
I don’t understand football Xs and Os as well as I should but I have always been a bigger fan of a 4-3 defense.
Mainly for the reasons we all harp on here about letting your best pass rushers rush and not be out in space.
Diaby, Vea, Kancey, Bain
Anzalone, Trotter, Scott/Parrish
McCollum, Winfield, Tykee, BMo/Parrish
Nelson, Robinson, Roberts/Capehart/Simmons, Muhammed
Are the 2nd wave/ subs to keep the front fresh.
I’m sure it ends up looking like this a lot anyway but as soon as Robinson or Roberts get in the front and Parrish or Scott are pulled and he has Diaby dropping… we lose our best pass rusher (until Kancey proves healthy and Bain hopefully becomes that guy) and we expose ourselves in coverage cause clearly these OLBs can’t cover like a Parrish or Scott can.
Passing league ! Opponent decides to run… well this is why you draft a Trotter or Scott or Parrish cause they are adept at going downhill, sticking their face in there and making a tackle.
May 2nd, 2026 at 10:45 pm
Bowles sucks…maybe he and leftwhich can coach peewee together in 2027
May 3rd, 2026 at 6:41 am
Bowles has proven to be one stubborn man. We shall see. If he is not used to get after the QB this fan will be “frosted”! If I see this dude dropping to stand there looking around for his man I will lose it! Play him to his strengths!
Go Bucs!
May 3rd, 2026 at 6:48 pm
Bowles had that OC in 2024 and his defense still pooped the sheets in the playoffs. He is simply not a good head coach. He’s a nice guy but unfortunately for us he runs in the same mold as Lovie Smith Mr Coach My Scheme. Too arrogant to see his scheme is not that good as well as his assistant coaching choices. His draft picks(with the help of Bud Licht) have not been that great either. Said it before if Houston turns Logan Hall into a good lineman that will be a reflection upon Bowles and Armstrong. I have very little faith that he will let Bain pin his ears back and be that dawg. He hasn’t changed it up to this point because he still thinks he fools other teams with his ineffective scheme.