Friday, 4 a.m.
Here's the thing to remember about Rueben Bain, the newest hope of the Tampa Bay Bucs
The Bucs don't care how long his arms are as long as they are wrapped about a quarterback.
The Bucs caught a falling star in Thursday night's NFL draft. At a spot where most analysts figured the Bucs would be sifting among the leftovers at the position -- Akheem Mesidor, Cashius Howell or Keldric Faulk had all been mentioned -- instead the Bucs picked Bain, who was one of the premier players in college football last season.
Bain was the ACC defensive payer of the year last year. He was an all-American and the star defender in the Hurricanes' national championship run. He won the Ted Hendrix Award. He had 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss. He had 83 quarterback pressures.
Almost all mock drafts predicted he would go in the top 10.
So why did he slide?
Evedently, much of the talk was about his short arms, as if his fingers barely emerged from a short-sleeve shirt. There was criticism he didn't run a 40-yard dash. He had the fatal car wreck in his past.
Production? No one seemed to knock that.
Oh, sure, Bain has questions to answer. All rookies do. The Bucs have lacked a dominant pass-rusher for years. Unless the rush is better, it's hard to envision the Bucs being better.
But when you think of the rushers the Bucs have taken a shot at in recent years, he seems like a good bet. Noah Spence? Joe Tryon-Shoyinka? Chris Braswell? Logan Hall? Gaines Adams? It's been like playing darts in the dark.
Drafting a pass rusher isn't like buying a suit. You only worry about arm length if. your nit-picking. It's about production. Bain had plenty of that.
Hey, the Bucs didn't cure themselves Thursday night.
But they toook a step.
