Benjamin Franklin once said the only things certain in life are death, taxes, and Week 1 NFL overreactions.

Or something like that.

Over the past several months, anticipation for Rueben Bain Jr.'s debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had grown to almost astronomical heights. The first-round pick looked like a future superstar from the minute he arrived in Tampa.

This offseason, Bain had earned comparisons to an NFL legend, become the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year, and made a Bucs legend second-guess his own retirement.

He immediately became the face of Tampa's new-look defense, and expectations for his season became higher than for any Bucs rookie in a very long time.

Tampa's Week 1 opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday meant the wait to see Bain on the field in a real game was finally over. Going against a Cincinnati offensive line that has had problems keeping quarterback Joe Burrow upright for years looked like a great opportunity for Bain to start his career off with a bang and record (at least) the first of what would undoubtedly be many sacks.

That didn't happen.

The Bucs did get a historic debut from one of their rookies, but it wasn't Bain. Second-round linebacker Josiah Trotter became the first player in NFL history to record both a pick-six and a sack in his first game.

As for Bain, you could barely tell he was on the field. He played 41 snaps, but only recorded a single tackle. No pressures. No QB hits. And only a 40.1 overall grade from PFF.

To say Bain's debut was a disappointment would be the understatement of the year.

Although it was only one game, that's all it took for one former NFL player to trash Bain and basically guarantee that he will be a bust.

Former defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko took to X (formerly Twitter) and continued his pre-draft assertions that Bain will not succeed in the NFL and that drafting him in the first round will get a general manager fired.

Fehoko went back to the "short arms" well to prove Bain will not turn out the way most people expect. 

Bain was seen as a surefire top-10, possibly top-5 pick in the draft before his arms measured shorter than the normal standard for edge rushers at the Combine. He ended up falling all the way to the Bucs, who drafted him with the 15th pick.

Bain has been making the teams that passed on him look foolish ever since. He has looked dominant in practices for months, impressing everyone who has seen him play.

Publicly saying one game, Bain's first-ever game no less, proves he won't be able to cut it in the NFL is a crazy overreaction.

No offense to Fehoko, but I'll put more stock in the opinions of guys like Larry Foote, Todd Bowles, Tristan Wirfs, and Luke Goedeke.

Foote, who had a long and distinguished NFL career, earning two Super Bowl rings as a player and another as a coach, has raved about Bain since he was drafted. He is Bain's position coach and has seen him play up close every day.

Bowles has earned a reputation as one of the league's best defensive coaches. He is on record saying he is "extremely grateful" to have Bain on his defense.

Wirfs, who may be the best left tackle in the NFL, and Goedeke, a strong right tackle, have both been impressed by Bain in practice. They go up against him every day. If they think highly of Bain, it means something.

There is no denying that Bain's game against Cincinnati was a major disappointment. But acting like that one game is proof that every criticism of the rookie is true, and completely writing him off as a good NFL player is nuts.

Despite Bain's quiet opener, and Fehoko's criticisms, faith in the rookie should not waver.

Bain will face the Cleveland Browns in Week 2. The Browns gave up five sacks on Sunday as they were trounced 34-10 by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hopefully, the rookie will be able to right the ship and silence the critics.

At least until his next quiet game.