Tampa Bay’s rookie pass rusher Rueben Bain Jr. is dealing with a groin injury after Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns, and that puts his Week 3 availability in question.
The Buccaneers held Bain out of practice on Wednesday, with head coach Todd Bowles saying the injury happened against Cleveland. Bowles also hinted after the game that Bain may not be “completely healthy.”
It’s been a quiet opening stretch for Tampa Bay’s first-round pick. Through two games, Bain has one tackle and a 2.6% pass rush win rate, a slow start by any measure for a player expected to make an early splash.
That said, the Buccaneers had reasons to believe the production would come. Bain barely played in the preseason, but he turned heads in joint practices against the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars.
The injury adds another layer to an early season start that has not gone the way Tampa Bay envisioned, though it’s still far too soon to make sweeping judgments about Bain’s NFL debut. His offseason work and reputation around the team suggested this kind of setback should be manageable once he’s healthy enough to return.
Bain was also entering the year with plenty of outside buzz. Jon Gruden and Ronde Barber both predicted big things from the Miami product, each calling him the next franchise great.
For now, the bigger issue for Tampa Bay remains the defense as a whole. Through two weeks, Bowles’ unit has been plagued by missed tackles and blown assignments, and the trouble getting off the field on third downs has only intensified the pressure around the staff.
One bright spot has been rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter, who has filled the stat sheet through two games with 25 total tackles, an interception, and a sack. In Week 1, he became the first player in NFL history to record 10 or more tackles, a sack, and a pick-six in his debut. He followed that up with 13 tackles against Cleveland, the most of any player in the game.
Trotter’s emergence has helped cover some ground while Bain works back toward full strength. For Tampa Bay, getting the rookie edge defender healthy is the immediate priority.
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