The Bucs had been over the moon after they chosen Rueben Bain Jr. with the fifteenth total choose within the 2026 NFL Draft. Now we all know precisely how a lot they wished Bain over another possibility obtainable to them. The staff just lately launched a video from their battle room throughout evening one of many draft. The video exhibits the strain main as much as Tampa Bay’s time on the clock.
Go behind-the-scenes throughout the second we drafted Rueben Bain Jr. ✍️
Watch Within the Present now on YouTube 📺 pic.twitter.com/L4lszMDPI9
Bucs Fielded A Commerce Provide, However Opted To Stick And Choose Rueben Bain Jr.
Within the footage, assistant common supervisor Mike Greenberg is seen on the telephone with one other staff discussing a potential commerce with simply a few picks left earlier than the Bucs had been on the clock at 15. The provide was choose 17 and two fourth-round picks – choose 118 and choose 128 – in alternate for the Bucs’ fifteenth total choose in addition to choose 195 (a sixth-rounder). Primarily based on who held these picks, we all know the provide was from the Detroit Lions.
Bucs VP of personnel Mike Biehl and GM Jason Licht – Photograph courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Within the video, Greenberg relays the provide to common supervisor Jason Licht, who responds that he can not decide to the commerce at the moment due to the opportunity of Bain falling. Licht’s official stance was “Depending,” which means it is dependent upon if Bain was obtainable or not. As we now know, he was, and Licht forewent the commerce in favor of taking the gifted move rusher out of Miami.
Conflicting Evaluation on Commerce Bundle Worth
The commerce worth chart mostly utilized by NFL groups is the Jimmy Johnson chart. Named after the Corridor of Fame head coach who popularized it whereas working the Dallas Cowboys within the late Nineteen Eighties to the early Nineteen Nineties, that chart is extraordinarily top-heavy, inserting probably the most worth on the prime of the primary spherical with a steep curve because the draft wears on. Utilizing that chart, the provide from the Lions was as near even worth as the 2 groups might get given their draft belongings. Right here is every choose’s worth in response to the Jimmy Johnson commerce worth chart:
Choose 15 – 1,050 pointsPick 195 – 13.4 factors
Whole worth of Bucs’ proposed commerce bundle – 1,063.4 factors
Choose 17 – 950 pointsPick 118 – 58 pointsPick 128 – 44 factors
Whole worth of Lions’ proposed commerce bundle – 1,052 factors
The Johnson chart isn’t the one commerce worth chart, and different extra trendy and well-researched charts present that there’s higher worth within the center rounds of the draft than Johnson as soon as thought. The Spielberger-Fitzgerald chart, named after former Professional Soccer Focus analyst Brad Spielber7ger and Over the Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald, exhibits the Bucs might have picked up loads of surplus worth by shifting again two picks and gaining the additional early day-three picks.
Choose 15 – 1,628 pointsPick 195 – 328 factors
Whole worth of Bucs’ proposed commerce bundle – 1,956 factors
Choose 17 – 1,564 pointsPick 118 – 578 pointsPick 128 – 541 factors
Whole worth of Lions’ proposed commerce bundle – 2,683 factors
The whole premium the Lions had been providing primarily based on the Spielberger-Fitzgerald chart is 37% – the equal of the 89th total choose by their measure. This carefully aligns with my very own analysis on draft choose valuation, which has the provide as a 35% acquire in draft worth for the Bucs.
Bucs Had Rueben Bain Jr. As A Prime Participant In Draft
As Tampa Bay fills out their draft board, they clearly tier prospects. And Rueben Bain Jr. was clearly in a tier above everybody else obtainable at 15, with the subsequent tier being nowhere near him. Pewter Report has found that Bain was the fourth-highest rated participant on Tampa Bay’s draft board.
Had there been simply a few gamers that they noticed as equally graded, the two-spot commerce down would have made all of the sense on the earth. However his expertise, of their eyes, was value effectively greater than the extra draft capital.
Bucs OLB Rueben Bain Jr. – Photograph by: Cliff Welch P/R
In the end, Licht opted to stay and choose, with vice chairman of participant personnel Mike Biehl narrating the clip, “Sometimes the best moves are just staying there and making the pick.”
