The Buccaneers used a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Rueben Bain Jr. for a reason: they want a pass rusher who can change the way Tampa Bay’s defense looks on Sundays.
That need has been obvious for a while. In recent seasons, the Bucs haven’t been able to consistently create pressure off the edge, and that has forced Todd Bowles’ defense to lean too heavily on the blitz. When that happens, the back end can get exposed against the pass.
Bain has already arrived in Tampa Bay with plenty of buzz, and the early reviews from coaches and teammates have been strong. If he turns that hype into production, he could become the kind of difference-maker this defense has been missing.
Rondé Barber is already buying in. The Buccaneers legend and one of the best defensive players in franchise history went out on a limb on his self-titled Rondé Barber Show, saying Bain will get to 10 sacks in just 13 games.
“[Bain] will probably get 10 sacks in, I’m going to give him 13 weeks,” Barber said. “This dude is a violent-like man killer, and a hat-snatcher. I see a 10-sack season.”
That would be a massive season for any rookie, and especially for a Buccaneers pass rusher. Tampa Bay hasn’t had a player hit double-digit sacks since 2021, when Shaq Barrett finished with 10.
As Ira Kaufman of JoeBucsFan pointed out, the last time a player drafted by the Buccaneers reached double-digit sacks was back in 2000, when Warren Sapp had 16.5 and Marcus Jones added 13.
That history is part of what makes Barber’s prediction so bold. The Bucs have spent premium draft capital on pass rushers before, and it hasn’t always worked out. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Chris Braswell are among the more recent examples.
Still, Bain brings the kind of production and mindset that could finally break that pattern. Last season, he led all of college football with 83 pressures, a total that tied the most ever in the PFF College era dating back to 2014.
And even if Barber’s 10-sack projection proves too ambitious for year one, Bain can still make a huge impact. Recent Defensive Rookie of the Year winners have shown that sacks aren’t everything: Jared Verse won the award in 2024 with 4.5 sacks, Will Anderson took it in 2023 with 7.0, and Chase Young won in 2020 with 7.5.
Only six rookies have reached double-digit sacks over the last decade, and just nine have gotten to at least nine, which tells you how steep the climb is for first-year edge rushers.
So the bar doesn’t have to be that high for Bain to matter. If he can keep collapsing pockets and forcing offenses to react the way he did in college, the Buccaneers will have exactly what they’ve been searching for: a real game-wrecker off the edge.
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Gainwells pass-catching and protection ability make him a natural piece in those looks, while Tucker gives the group a more downhill edge when the Bucs want to change the pace. The bigger question is whether Tampa Bay actually commits to using all of it, because a backfield this balanced can be an advantage only if the team is willing to keep rotating and let the matchups dictate the plan. [Read more 🡒]