Rueben Bain Jr. doesn’t need to wait for the regular season to find out what life in the NFL looks like. Training camp is already giving the Buccaneers rookie outside linebacker a brutal, useful education, and the instructors are as good as it gets.
With Tristan Wirfs working back from a tweaked hamstring, Bain has been spending most of his camp reps opposite Luke Goedeke. That means the rookie is getting a daily look at one of the league’s top tackle pairings, a matchup that should harden him long before the games start counting.
Bain knows exactly what that means for his development.
"I go against Luke Goedeke] every day. I feel like we battle each and every day.
He gets the best of me, and I get to grow from that. I get to learn and experience from one of the best in the game right now and I don't take that for granted at all.
I'm coming in each day trying to get better any time I can. I ask him for pointers… As soon as I get off the field, I'm grabbing the iPad, run over to him, see what he sees,” Bain said.
That kind of approach is part of why Tampa Bay believes it may have something special in the rookie. Head coach Todd Bowles praised Bain’s tape, but he said the real separator goes beyond what shows up in highlights.
“He is an outstanding football player. You get to see that right there on the tape.
What you don’t see is the intelligence and how he prepares like a pro. That’s what makes you have the ability to be a great football player… He knows one speed and that’s full speed,” Bowles said.
The physical production is already there. Bain posted 83 QB pressures last season, tied for the most in the PFF College era dating back to 2011. Over his Miami career, he finished with 20.5 sacks and 33.5 tackles for loss, numbers that made him one of college football’s most disruptive pass rushers.
Now Tampa Bay is betting that edge can carry over to Sundays and help reshape its defense. So far, Bain is handling the transition the way the Buccaneers would want: working, asking questions, and taking every rep seriously.
In that sense, his rookie offseason is drawing comparisons to Emeka Egbuka’s, with the same sense that Tampa Bay may have landed a cornerstone piece.
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