One year after the Atlanta Falcons saw a top-notch defensive player fall to them in the teens, they have to watch their fellow NFC South opponent land one of their own.
With the No. 15 pick, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted Miami Hurricane Rueben Bain Jr., a top-5 prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft. It is a scary thought, thinking he will be making a living chasing Michael Penix Jr. or Tua Tagovailoa moving forward.
The basics on Bucs' first-rounder Rueben Bain: 9.5 sacks last year for Miami. He's 21 years old, 6-foot-2, 263 pounds. Had 20.5 sacks in three years with the Hurricanes.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) April 24, 2026
And, unfortunately for the Dirty Birds, he would've been sitting there for the taking if they hadn't taken a huge swing on James Pearce Jr. last year.
Buccaneers added a devastating blow to the Falcons' tough Day 1 of the draft by drafting Rueben Bain Jr.
Bain Jr. was supposed to be a top-5 pick, if not for his short arms and a possible legal situation from the past. 14 teams passed on the Hurricane, landing him right in the laps of the Bucs.
The 6-foot-2, 263-pound defensive lineman will fit right into Todd Bowles' defense -- any defense, for that matter. He can play up and down the line, which is exactly what the Bucs needed in the draft.
All while the Falcons sit back and wait patiently for the second round to come. They would've had a chance to land Bain Jr. if they had been scared away from last year's trade.
Obviously, the recent news about Pearce Jr. makes things less complicated. However, we still don't know his future, and it is something we cannot predict. It will take time to figure out the results of this saga.
But when you sit here and think what the Falcons could've had right now, it hurts. They saw Jalon Walker fall right to them last year, and the same could've happened this year. Those are two top-10, maybe even top-five talents in the past two drafts.
We shall see how everything plays out over the coming years.
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