Rueben Bain Dominates Bucs’ Joint Practice With Jets

Joint practices give NFL teams a great opportunity to test themselves against a different opponent instead of going up against the same teammates every single day for weeks.

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Before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the New York Jets in their opening preseason game on Friday, the teams clashed during two days of joint practices. Tempers flared. Fights broke out. Helmets were tossed. 

The intensity of the joint practices was just one of the many things that were different for the Bucs. The opponent was different. They were also practicing on a different field. 

Despite all of the differences about the joint practices, one thing remained the same.

Rueben Bain Jr. dominated.

Tampa's prized rookie has looked terrific all offseason long. He has impressed his coaches and teammates, been compared to an NFL legend, become the frontrunner for Defensive Rookie of the Year, and been named to All-Rookie teams.

In his first action against one of the NFL's other 31 teams, Bain continued to look like a monster. According to Scott Reynolds of Pewter Report, Bain "unleashed the beast" against the Jets on Wednesday.

Menace As A Pass Rusher

After making a couple of impressive plays during joint practice on Tuesday, Bain was even more dominant on Wednesday. Reynolds called Bain "a menace" as a pass rusher, noting that he was routinely getting to the quarterback and drawing holding penalties against the Jets' offensive line.

"After notching a pair of impressive tackles for loss on Tueday, Rueben Bain Jr. unleashed the beast against the Jets on Wednesday, especially as a pass rusher. In one-on-one drills, Bain blew past Olu Fashanu with a jump step, which set up a swim move right past the Jets starting left tackle for a sack. If you blinked, you missed it. Then Bain had a sack in 11-on-11 team drills and he also drew a holding penalty on New York in the two-minute drill and severely impacted what they were able to do. Bain was a menace as a pass rusher on Wednesday."

Fashanu was the 11th overall pick in 2024, drafted even higher than Bain was this year. He is a building block of the Jets' offensive line and was very highly regarded coming out of Penn State.

Bain beating Fashanu so routinely is a statement from the rookie. He expects to win his rep and make life miserable for whoever is lined up across from him, no matter who it is.

Final Thoughts

In his first taste of action against a different team, Bain continued to look like a future superstar. The expectations for his rookie season are so high that anything less than winning the DROY award will seem like a disappointment.

Bain is on a mission to make the teams that passed on him look foolish, and it seems he is accomplishing that every day. Pass rushers as talented as Bain shouldn't last to pick 15, and the Bucs were incredibly fortunate to have him fall into their lap.

Another cool thing about the joint practices is that we got to see how Bain looked compared to David Bailey, whom the Jets drafted second overall. Bailey, like Bain, is an incredibly polished pass rusher who is likely Bain's top competition for DROY.

Bailey also looked impressive on Wednesday, getting the best of the Bucs' right tackle Luke Goedeke. Bailey and Bain will be compared throughout their careers, so it was pretty neat to see them in action against each other's teams for the first time.

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