The last thing an NFL franchise needs at this stage of preseason is an injury scare to one of the brightest prospects on its roster. Basically, exactly what happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during their joint practice session with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Tuesday, August 26. With the NFL season due to kick off next month, an injury to defensive lineman Reuben Bain Jr. could’ve had catastrophic consequences.
However, the Tampa Bay fans, head coach Todd Bowles, and general manager Jason Licht can all breathe a sigh of relief as a prominent NFL Insider has quelled any injury concerns about Reuben Bain Jr by calling it “nothing serious” via a recent X post.
“Sources: Buccaneers first-round pick Reuben Bain Jr. suffered an AC sprain, but it is said to be “nothing serious”, and he is expected to be ready Week 1 at Cincinnati,” Adam Schefter wrote on X.
Ian Rapoport, another NFL insider, characterized the positive diagnostic report of Reuben Bain Jr. as a “sigh of relief for the promising pass rusher.”
Bain Jr. suffered an upper-body injury during competitive team drills in the joint practice with the Jaguars at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville and walked off with trainers. When the team held him out of Wednesday’s final practice session, it raised immediate red flags across Tampa Bay.
“Even if it’s classified as a mild AC sprain, those can typically take 1-2 weeks to heal. There are still 18 days until that season-opening game between the Bucs and Bengals, so Tampa Bay should feel confident that it’ll have its top pick available by then,” Pewter Report’s Bailey Adams wrote of Reuben Bain Jr.’s injury.
For a team that ranked 32nd in QB pressure rate and ranked 11th for highest offensive rate allowed, Reuben Bain Jr.’s ability can make a world of difference.
Bain Jr. is coming off an incredible 2025 with the Miami Hurricanes. The 2025 First-Team All-American DL led the nation with 83 QB pressures. He also stacked up 54 combined tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks as Miami made it to the national championship game, finishing as runners-up with a 13-2 record.
Before he went to ‘The U’, Bain Jr. was also named a MaxPreps Junior All-American in 2021 after an extraordinary 29.5 sacks at Miami Central High School, and he was later selected to play in the 2023 Under Armour All-America Game.
The 2025 ACC Defensive Player of the Year winner, Reuben Bain Jr.’s importance to the Buccaneers can be understood through the way the GM and the Head Coach have previously talked about their rookie DL.
“You add a player like Reuben, and if he does what we think he can do, it opens a lot of things up. It makes everybody along the D-Line better when you can have two edge presences,” GM Jason Licht said after drafting Reuben Bain Jr.
HC Todd Bowles had previously praised the rookie by stating that Bain looked in “midseason form” earlier in the rookie minicamp in May.
Bain’s partnership with complementary pass-rushing dynamic opposite fourth-year outside linebacker Yaya Diaby (who compiled 19 sacks over the past three seasons) will be enticing to witness in the upcoming season.
And while Tampa Bay Times writer Rick Stroud has labelled the situation as “Something to monitor for sure,” indicating the franchise won’t rush Bain into the season but rather ease him into the DL, the prospect of Reuben Bain Jr. facing the Bengals and QB Joe Burrow in Week 1 is surely one fans will be hoping to witness.