The Super Bowl has a funny way of impacting the way fans view teambuilding. It's a copycat league, and with 30 teams and 100+ million fans watching, everybody is taking notes on the good stuff... and the bad stuff.
For Super Bowl LX, people are taking notes on Patriots rookie left tackle Will Campbell, and connecting his awful night to Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr.
Will Campbell is ruining Rueben Bain’s draft stock with this performance
— DeanoTalksSports (@DeanTrombino) February 9, 2026
Campbell, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, had a nightmare matchup in New England's 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle's defense battered Drake Maye all night and finished with six sacks.
Campbell allowed 14 pressures, which was the worst total by any player in a single game all season.
How does this impact Rueben Bain?
Arm length.
Campbell's pre-draft evaluation included a long-running debate about whether his arms were long enough. Campbell measured 32 5/8 inches at the combine and 33 inches at LSU's pro day, which is below the old-school 34-inch preference.
Arm length is not everything, and plenty of tackles have made it work without ideal measurements. But it does matter in very specific situations, like when an edge rusher can get into your chest first, when you lose the early hand fight, and when you can't consistently keep rushers at the end of your reach. In a game where Campbell was getting pressured over and over, it's not surprising that the old "short arms" talking point came back.
Rueben Bain Jr. is one of the most productive defensive linemen in the country, and he's viewed as a high-end NFL prospect. He put up 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss in 2025.
But, Bain has the same measurement red flag. Bain's arm length is expected to come in around 30 3/4 inches, which would be inside the 10th percentile among NFL edge defenders. Because of this, some teams might view Bain more like a defensive tackle based on his build and length.
NFL teams already had the arm-length data point circled on Bain long before Campbell's bad night. But now it could be something that dominates the conversation around Bain as we get closer to the draft.