'T. rex' and More Wild Names NFL Teams Give Draft Prospects on Grades, Scouting Reports

NFL teams often have a language all their own when it comes to calling offensive and defensive plays, but that also permeates into the draft room for some.

The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue spoke with an anonymous senior front-office source who shared a list of terms they use in their draft reports to indicate strengths or weaknesses in NFL draft prospects.

The terms, which are represented by small pictures, are as follows:

• Bounce dryer sheets — player lacks bulk, strength
• Raw steak — raw player
• Orange juice carton — player has juice
• Pacifier — player is immature
• T. rex — player has short arms
• Eddie Haskell — team feels player is not being honest
• Stick figure — player weight is below a certain threshold

Arm length is often an important point of discussion when it comes to offensive line and defensive line prospects, so it comes as little surprise that an NFL team places significant stock in it.

University of Miami pass-rusher Rueben Bain Jr.'s NFL draft stock was the subject of debate among draft experts and fans last week at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine due primarily to concerns about his short arms.

QBs Rueben Bain Wants to Sack

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Per ESPN's Stephen Holder, Bain's arms measured in at 30⅞ inches, which is "much shorter" than NFL teams typically prefer an edge-rusher to have.

Bain told reporters that "no teams brought it up" in reference to his arm length during interviews, but ESPN's John Keim noted that if Bain is taken in the first round as projected, he will be the edge-rusher with the shortest arm length to be a first-round pick since at least 2003.

His arm length was not prohibitive during Bain's collegiate career, as he registered 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss last season at Miami, earning him consensus All-American honors, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Ted Hendricks Award as the top defensive end in college football.

The BR NFL Scouting Department predicted Bain to go seventh overall to the Washington Commanders in its post-combine mock draft, so the arm length may not ultimately have much of an impact on his stock.