Jon Gruden Clip Shows Bucs Graded Rueben Bain Jr. Top-Five

jon gruden resurfaced around the Buccaneers' draft talk after Jason Licht said Tampa Bay graded Rueben Bain Jr. as a top-five overall player in the 2026 NFL Draft. The evaluation helps explain why the club was willing to treat Bain as a target it would have taken if he were still on the board.

Licht said the Buccaneers were very happy with where everything fell throughout the entire draft and added that the team believed it came away with a top-five draft class. He also said the answer was yes when Rob McCartney asked two weeks before the draft whether Tampa Bay would still take Bain if he were sitting there.

Jason Licht and Rueben Bain Jr.

Licht laid out how firm the Buccaneers were on Bain. “I believe Rob at one point two weeks before the draft said, ‘So, I just want to know, like if Rueben Bain is sitting there, you still are going to take him?’ I said, ‘Yes!’” he said on Tuesday afternoon on The Drive w/Tras on 95.7 WDAE.

He described Bain as “a top-notch kid that is all about football” and said the team spent “many hours” preparing for the draft. That preparation included watching every snap of Bain's career, which left Tampa Bay comfortable enough to keep him near the top of its board.

30 7/8-inch arms

There was one physical measurement that stood out. Bain's 30 7/8-inch arms are tied for the third-shortest recorded by an edge rusher since 1999, but Licht said the Buccaneers never treated that as a problem.

“Trust me when I say we watched every snap of his career and the short arms were never a concern for us,” he said. Licht added, “Whenever I see him play, I think he gets to the offensive player before they get to him because of all the other things that embodies him as a player.”

Buccaneers draft board

The board value is the key part for Tampa Bay. A top-five overall grade meant the Buccaneers viewed Bain as one of the draft's best players, not just a fit for a need, and that is why Licht said the club would have taken him if available.

For readers tracking the Bucs' draft logic, the takeaway is simple: Bain was not a fallback option. He was evaluated like a premium player, and Tampa Bay's front office had already decided that the arm-length concern would not push him off its board.