{"id":599592,"date":"2026-04-11T07:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T07:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/599592\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T07:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T07:24:18","slug":"where-miamis-rueben-bain-jr-could-land-in-2026-nfl-draft-latest-mocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/599592\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr could land in 2026 NFL Draft, latest mocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr could land in 2026 NFL Draft, latest mocks<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rueben Bain Jr is an interesting prospect. He was dominant at Miami, but his draft stock is still unknown as those who champion analytics and circumstantial factors. Bain admittedly has short arms. The concern is there is very little data that suggests a short armed EDGE can be dominant.<\/p>\n

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Bain is a great candidate for “just watch the tape”. Bain is unrelenting, powerful and quick. He’s also a football only guy. At the Combine he was asked about his hair. He said he eats, sleeps and breathes football only.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about his short arms Bain provided a great comp. “Like Mike Tyson… He wasn’t the tallest guy. He wasn’t the longest-limbed guy. But when you felt him, you felt him.”<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at where Bain is projected to land in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Rueben Bain Jr NFL Draft projectionsESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr – No. 9 Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n

The Chiefs now have two first-round picks. And Bain would be very tough to pass up at this spot. Despite 30\u215e-inch arms that caused quite a stir at the combine, Bain is dominant off the edge<\/a>. He simply finds ways to get to the QB, whether it’s with his speed, power or savviness. He had 71 pressures last season en route to 9.5 sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss.<\/p>\n

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The Ringer’s Todd McShay – No. 4 Tennessee Titans<\/p>\n

Bain might be a bit of a surprise here, but the pick tracks philosophically. Mike Borgonzi comes from the Chiefs\u2019 BPA model and has a history of using premium picks (top 10-15) on premium positions (QB, edge, OT, CB).\u00a0Bain over David Bailey comes down to fit. With Jermaine Johnson in place as the wide-9 rusher, HC Robert Saleh is looking for a nasty tone setter up front. Bain provides that physical edge setting<\/a> with pass rush disruption. If Borgonzi and Saleh can look past the short arms, Bain feels like a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

NFL Network’s Rhett Lewis – No. 8 New Orleans Saints<\/p>\n

Even if Cameron Jordan re-signs with the Saints this offseason, the team needs to find another presence on the edge. Bain gives them a menace<\/a> both as a pass rusher and run defender.<\/p>\n

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ESPN’s Peter Schrager – No. 8 New Orleans Saints<\/p>\n

New Orleans said farewell to many defensive leaders this offseason. Short arms be damned; the powerful and disruptive Bain<\/a> is viewed as a top-10-worthy prospect after a 9.5-sack season. This seems like a good match.<\/p>\n

Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice – No. 10 Cincinnati Bengals<\/p>\n

The Bengals go with the antithesis of their first-round selection from a year ago, trading the high-end tools and low-end production of Shemar Stewart with the top-end production and effort but lack of ideal length of Bain.\u00a0 The Bengals look at Bain to be a tone-setter<\/a> on their defense for the future.<\/p>\n

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CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell – No. 12 Dallas Cowboys<\/p>\n

The Cowboys land the edge rusher they desired since Micah Parsons’ exit to the Green Bay Packers thanks to Rueben Bain Jr.’s lack of arm length (30\u215e inches). Bain put on a show<\/a> at his pro day during position drills in front of Brian Schottenheimer, and company. Dallas lands a young edge rusher who can grow alongside Donovan Ezeiruaku and Rashan Gary.<\/p>\n

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler Big Board ranking – No. 9 overall<\/p>\n

Bain<\/a> has some size\/speed constraints, but his power profile, leveraged attack and tenacious play style show in all areas of his game and directly lead to backfield disruption. He projects as a scheme-versatile NFL starter who can line up wide, over the tackle or inside as a three-technique.<\/p>\n

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More college football news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr could land in 2026 NFL Draft, latest mocks originally appeared on The Sporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,85042,67560,1252,1234,3046,1243,1240,226401,5140,1245,3879,1249,593,38953,133452,5376,85,1253],"class_list":{"0":"post-599592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bain","11":"tag-cameron-jordan","12":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","13":"tag-dallas-cowboys","14":"tag-donovan-ezeiruaku","15":"tag-green-bay-packers","16":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","17":"tag-mel-kiper-jr","18":"tag-miami","19":"tag-micah-parsons","20":"tag-new-orleans","21":"tag-new-orleans-saints","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-rashan-gary","24":"tag-rueben-bain-jr","25":"tag-shemar-stewart","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-tennessee-titans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}