Happy Monday, everybody. I hope your weeks have gotten off to a great start. The 2026 NFL Draft is FINALLY in the rearview mirror, and a number of Canes heard their names called over the three-day stretch.
What are the best fits? What are the surprises? Let’s dive in.
1) Rueben Bain, Jr. is landing in a terrific situation that reminds me of yesteryear.
I’ve been watching football since the mid-1980s. I remember clearly when Warren Sapp fell down the draft past the Jets at No. 9, who took Penn State
TE Kyle Brady (lol), and ultimately was snagged by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 12 in the 1995 NFL Draft. The Bucs landed a Hall of Fame player and one of the greatest interior defensive linemen of an entire generation.
I don’t know if Bain ends up in the Hall of Fame, obviously, but the Bucs got tremendous value at No. 15 with Bain, and boy, he looked pretty pissed off, didn’t he?
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is one of the better defensive coaches in the league, and he didn’t have a problem with arm length. One of Bowles’ strengths is finding creative ways to generate pressure outside of a traditional four-man pass rush, so if anyone could maximize Bain’s pass rushing abilities, it’s Bowles.
And Nick Saban said it best on draft night.
“This guy has elite strength and power for his size,” Saban said. “And I know everybody talks about his short arms, but I have yet to see anybody that has a long enough arm to keep him from butting them in the throat.”
Damn right, coach.
2) I said in this column last week that someone would get a steal on Keionte Scott in Round 2. Well, I HAD NO IDEA THAT TEAMS SUDDENLY WANT TO DRAFT TE2s and WR3s ON DAY 2 INSTEAD OF A STARTING NICKEL CORNERBACK!
That draft was just astoundingly stupid in some respects. Astoundingly. Taking blocking tight ends in Rounds 2 and 3 instead of Rounds 4-5. The most pass catchers taken in the first three rounds in the modern draft era. WHAT. ARE. WE. FREAKING. DOING. HERE. GMS??? Check out the Jaguars and Rams’ second round picks (not surprisingly, their drafts have been getting crushed in post-draft evaluations; the Rams also have three or four good tight ends).
Anywho, the Bucs got a damned highway robbery theft in the fourth round with Scott. The Bucs had a great rookie nickel last year in K-State’s Jacob Parrish, but he’ll compete for the boundary starting job with thus-far disappointing fellow 2025 rookie Benjamin Morrison out of Notre Dame. I think Scott has a great shot of earning the starting nickel job in August for the Bucs.
Two absolute steals for Tampa Bay with former Hurricane greats. A lot of eyes from Coral Gables will be on them this fall.
3) Boy, Carson Beck did alright for himself, didn’t he?
Taken with the first pick of the third round, he was indeed the third quarterback off the board, and he ended up going on Day 2 after all after some mystery about where he ultimately projected to go.
It’s an awesome situation for him, as the competition in that room behind starter Jacoby Brissett isn’t all that strong. Beyond Beck, there’s veteran journeyman Gardner Minshew and Kedon Slovis. Beck has some veterans in house to learn from but not brick wall in front of him to keep him from taking over as the future starter at the position in the years to come.
4) And how the hell about Markel Bell and Jakobe Thomas in the third as well???
Bell went three picks after Beck to the Eagles. A great organization to be joining, and if he can utilize that enormous frame, he will find himself on the field eventually in Philadelphia.
I was super pumped to see the Vikings pull the trigger on Thomas at pick No. 98. Man, the way he came from Tennessee after the 2024 season and turned into an old school Cane, with the way he hit and played with swagger. He has more of an NFL future ahead of him than many people talked about ahead of the draft. Hitter, ball skills. He brought it all.
Congrats to all the Canes who got drafted or signed a UDFA deal after the draft. Looking forward to seeing your careers continue at the next level.
Go Canes!
