NFL Exec Dishes on Rueben Bain Jr. Arm Length Concerns Ahead of Draft, 'It's Not Nothing'

While the general consensus around Rueben Bain Jr. seems to be that his arm length won't cause much of an issue for teams in the 2026 NFL draft, there are people in the league who aren't totally dismissing it as a potential concern.

One personnel executive from a team with a top-10 pick told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that "it's not nothing" when referencing Bain's arm length:

"It's in between. The kid's played his entire life that way and been pretty successful. But I think it will pose a challenge. He's found a way to work around it, leaving blockers, using his squattines to his advantage. But you use your hands and arms on every play, trying to control the blocker who's trying to control you, reaching and running 60 times a game. It's an imperfect science, and you can't say he can't play football because he can. But he will have some issues."

It wasn't a surprise that Bain had short arms when he got measured at the NFL scouting combine. He was asked about it leading up to the event and downplayed it as a potential issue.

"People keep bringing that up out of nowhere, but no teams brought it up to me, so I don't bring it up either," he said on Feb. 25. "As long as I just talk the talk and walk the walk, play with technique, nobody actually cares about it."

Bain has the third-shortest arms of any EDGE prospect since 1999.

However, it doesn't seem like scouts or teams are as down on Bain's lack of arm length in the way that they often are for someone who plays offensive tackle.

B/R's NFL scouting department projected Bain to go No. 8 overall to the New Orleans Saints in its most recent mock draft. He was always productive in three years at Miami, recording 33.5 tackles for loss and 20.5 sacks in 38 games.