Rueben Bain Jr. is looked at as one of the top prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft, and he could be just what the Kansas City Chiefs need.
For the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Kansas City Chiefs will not be participating in the playoffs. In fact, they have made it to the AFC Championship in each of his first seven seasons.
Mahomes' greatness the past few seasons has been able to overshadow a team that had a lot ore weaknesses than it may have appeared.
The struggles of this season is obviously disappointing for Chiefs fans, but it now forces general manager Brett Veach and the team to fix those issues.
One of the biggest issues for the team has been the inability to get any pressure on the quarterback outside of all-pro defensive tackle Chris Jones. If Veach and any Chiefs fans were watching the CFP matchup on Wednesday night between Miami and Ohio State, then defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. should be very appealing.
The one knock on Bain is that he doesn't have the ideal arm length for elite defensive ends in the NFL, but his strength and power more than makes up for that.
In the game against Ohio State, he finished with three tackles and one sack, but that doesn't do his performance true justice. The Hurricanes had five sacks, and a huge reason why was because Bain demanded so much attention, it opened up great opportunities for his teammates to have success.
With Jones in the middle, he is going to constantly demand a double-team from opposing offensive lines. Pairing Bain with defensive end George Karlaftis could take what was a weakness for the team, and turn it into a strength very quickly.
It is still extremely early in the draft process, but Chiefs fans are already screaming and clamoring for the team to take Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. While that may be the more popular pick for the fans, the bottom line is the lack of pressure was as glaring of an issue as there was for the Chiefs.
The last time the Chiefs took a running back in the first round, it didn't work out as Clyde Edwards-Helaire couldn't live up to the hype. While Love fits a lot of boxes, bringing in a running back of that magnitude would also make Andy Reid have to change his entire philosophy and become a run-first team.
As long as Reid and Mahomes are together, the likelihood of that happening is very rare. The free agent class of running backs is the best one in a long time, and that would make more sense and allow the Chiefs to take a potential star on defense.