The 2026 NFL draft is right around the corner, and, usually, that means not a lot of news and just a lot of rumors. Sometimes, a big piece of news hits around things that the media and fans were not aware of throughout the predraft process. While the Cleveland Browns are likely to focus on the offensive side of the ball, on Sunday, we learned that DE Rueben Bain’s past is likely to see him fall in the upcoming draft.
Bain’s red flag was not known when we created his predraft profile.
According to Ollie
Connolly, Bain was the driver in a March 2024 accident that led to one of the passengers passing away:
Bain, then a sophomore at the University of Miami, was driving on Interstate 95 in Miami at 4 am on 17 March 2024 when his vehicle struck another car before careering into concrete barriers on both sides of the highway, according to police crash records reviewed by The Read Optional.
One of four passengers in Bain’s car, Destiny Betts, a 22-year-old college student from Georgia who was visiting Miami for spring break, suffered incapacitating injuries and was rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center from the scene. She never regained consciousness. Betts died on 13 June 2024, after spending almost three months in a coma.
Connolly uploaded the entire police report as a PDF in his article.
While Bain was initially charged, the reason the accident had been unknown until this time was that the charge was dismissed:
No field sobriety test was administered at the scene. Bain was cited for careless driving. That charge was dismissed approximately two weeks before Betts died, while she remained in a coma.
It is unknown whether every NFL team was aware of the accident, but Connolly included quotes from multiple league sources:
Multiple league sources confirmed they are aware of the incident and are continuing to investigate. It remains unclear if it will affect Bain’s draft position.
“It feels like it could be [Laremy Tunsil] all over again,” a league source told The Read Optional. “It doesn’t feel like [Bain] has been transparent with us.”
“We are concerned about multiple incidents,” another team executive said. “We are waiting for the other shoe.”
Connolly noted that Bain did not respond to a request for comment.
You can read the entire article here, along with the full police report on the accident.
