Three years ago, Rueben Bain Jr. arrived at Miami and won ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year after recording 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks as a true freshman. Now he has a chance to make another piece of rookie history, this time for both the Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Bain has emerged as one of the early names to watch for the 2026 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
The ENERGY we're bringing this season 😤 pic.twitter.com/6vTuvsf26M
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) August 12, 2026
Rueben Bain Jr. could have a historic rookie season
No Buccaneers player has ever won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
The honor dates to 1967, nine years before Tampa Bay played its first season. The Buccaneers have produced Defensive Players of the Year, All-Pros and Hall of Famers during that span, but the DROY has remained out of reach.
The Bucs have had some former players get close to winning the award but ultimately they have fallen short of the honor. Former Tampa Bay defensive tackle Santana Dotson was named Defensive Rookie of the Year by other organizations in 1992, but he did not win the Associated Press award that generally serves as the league's standard. The winner that season was Kansas City cornerback Dale Carter.
Antoine Winfield Jr. won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month in September 2020 during Todd Bowles' second season as Tampa Bay's defensive coordinator. Winfield finished his rookie season with a first-place vote for AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, although Washington edge rusher Chase Young won the award.
Calijah Kancey became another candidate in 2023, winning Defensive Rookie of the Month for November after leading the NFL in tackles for loss during that stretch. Devin White also won the monthly rookie honor twice in 2019 but neither ultimately took home the season award.
Luckily for Bain, he is playing at a position that has repeatedly produced winners.
Jared Verse won the award with the Rams in 2024, Houston edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. won in 2023, and Micah Parsons, Chase Young and Nick Bosa also won between 2019 and 2021. Six of the past 10 winners have been edge rushers or linebackers whose ability to pressure the quarterback was a main reason for their win.
Last season, Cleveland linebacker Carson Schwesinger became the first winner since 2018 who was primarily an off-ball linebacker, finishing his rookie year with 156 tackles and 11 tackles for loss.
Miami's history with the NFL DROY Award
Jonathan Vilma is the only former Hurricane to win the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award. The Jets selected Vilma No. 12 overall in 2004, and he put up 105 tackles, two sacks and three interceptions (one returned for a touchdown).
Miami had a record 6 first-round selections in 2004, with Vilma going after Sean Taylor and Kellen Winslow II and before D.J. Williams, Vernon Carey and Vince Wilfork.
The award has increasingly belonged to players who make themselves impossible to ignore as pass rushers. If Bain can do that, he certainly has a chance to win this award.
Add us as a preferred source on Google