Cody Mauch dismisses pre-draft arm-length concerns, labeling the rookie edge rusher an absolute beast who is already dominating NFL veterans throughout early offseason workouts and minicamps.
Ever since Rueben Bain Jr. was drafted in April, he has received nothing but praise.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles talked about how "grateful" he is to be coaching Bain.
General manager Jason Licht has said the rookie "has been as advertised."
Bain's position coach, Larry Foote, has raved about his football IQ and even compared him to Pittsburgh Steelers great James Harrison, who was Foote's former teammate.
Now we get to hear about Bain from someone whose job has been to try to stop him, Bucs' guard Cody Mauch.
Mauch spoke to WDAY-TV during his football camp at his alma mater North Dakota State. When the conversation turned to Bain, Mauch couldn't hide his excitement over Tampa's prized rookie.
“Absolutely fantastic player, oh goodness, he is,” Mauch said of Bain.
“You know his whole knock was the short arms coming out of college; And I understand that, I got knocked for that, as well. I mean just through the OTAs and mincamp we’ve had so far, the short arms don’t matter for him. He is an absolute beast. So I’m excited to see him work this year.”
The Hype Keeps Growing
Heading into his rookie year, the hype for Bain keeps growing. Everyone who has been around him with the Bucs can't stop gushing over his potential.
At this point, anything less than a Defensive Rookie of the Year-winning season might be seen as a disappointment for Bain. As the season nears, it is becoming more and more of a shock that Bain dropped all the way to Tampa at pick 15 in the 2026 NFL Draft.
It looks like many NFL teams will regret passing on Bain for a long time.
The "Small Arms" Criticism Looks Weak
The knock on Bain leading up to the draft was that he has small arms. When his arms measured at only 30 7/8 inches at the Scouting Combine, it threw evaluators into a tailspin. It seemed like there was a line of people waiting to declare him a future bust and that no team should invest a top pick in him.
Bain himself said that no team brought up his arm length during his interview process. He was confident that teams would focus on and evaluate him on his play in college, not his arms. Yet, he went from being projected as a top-10 pick, possibly even top-5, to falling all the way to 15.
If Bain's arm length was the reason for his drop, as suspected, there are a lot of teams that are looking silly now.
Hearing Mauch, who is a very good NFL offensive lineman, say that Bain's shorter arms have not been an issue for him at all, is very telling. Mauch blocks defensive linemen for a living, giving him a much more informed perspective than someone who works in a television studio.
Final Thoughts
Bain's first game is shaping up to be the most anticipated rookie debut for the Bucs in quite some time. It looks like Tampa got one of the steals of the draft.
Thankfully, the Bucs didn't overthink the pick or try to find reasons to pass on possibly the best defensive player in the entire draft. They trusted Bain's tape, basing their opinion of Bain solely on his performance on the field, not his measurements while wearing shorts in February.
Now the Bucs can sit back and reap the benefits of other teams over-analyzing one of the draft's true blue-chip prospects.
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