Bucs general manager Jason Licht did not just fill needs in the 2026 NFL Draft, but he may have landed one of the top players in the entire class. Tampa Bay believes it came away with a top-five draft class — headlined by outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr., whom Licht and the front office graded as a top-five overall player.

He doubled down on that belief during a Tuesday afternoon radio appearance on The Drive w/Tras on 95.7 WDAE.

Inside Jason Licht And The Bucs’ View Of Rueben Bain Jr. As A Top-5 Player

Like most NFL Drafts, this one did not unfold the way Jason Licht expected, but it broke in Tampa Bay’s favor.

“I would say that we are very happy with where everything fell throughout the entire draft and as it relates to the things we wanted to accomplish in terms of our needs,” Licht said.

The draft process is a year-long endeavor, filled with thousands of miles of traveling, along with hundreds of scouting reports and meetings with prospects. Licht discussed the effort put in and why he did not see drafting Rueben Bain Jr. as a likely outcome.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and GM Jason Licht – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

“Many hours,” Licht said of the time put in. “You said weeks, it’s more months of preparation for the draft. We have the formal meetings where we talk about it but then there’s more informal meetings as we pop into each other’s offices. Not just Todd [Bowles] and myself, but with scouts and Rob [McCartney], Mike Biehl, Mike Greenberg, and everybody… there’s a lot of them.

“I believe Rob at one point two weeks before the draft said, ‘So, I just want to know, like if Rueben Bain is sitting there, you still are going to take him?’ I said, ‘Yes!’ That wasn’t the focal point because, to be honest with you, we didn’t think there was a high percent chance of that happening.”

Why did Licht think that? Well, when setting up the team’s draft board, Bain was way up there.

“He was inside the top five.”

After admitting how highly the organization thinks about the rookie pass rusher out of Miami, he shared what set him apart.

Bucs edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. – Photo courtesy of: The University of Miami – JC Ridley

“Rueben is a top-notch kid that is all about football,” Licht said. “That’s the type of players we’re trying to bring in here because one of the common denominators in all the players that end up being great players… they all love football. Football is their life, and he certainly checks all those boxes.”

One box that is not checked is having ideal arm length. Bain’s 30 7/8-inch arms are tied for the third-shortest recorded by an edge rusher since 1999. The team sees him as an outlier who can perform despite the knock on that uncontrollable aspect of his frame.

“Trust me when I say we watched every snap of his career and the short arms were never a concern for us,” Licht said. “There are always outliers, there are always the player that can overcompensate for what some feel is a shortcoming. Whenever I see him play, I think he gets to the offensive player before they get to him because of all the other things that embodies him as a player.”

Jason Licht On What Stands Out About Josiah Trotter, Ted Hurst, And Keionte Scott

If Thursday marked the Bucs making a home-run pick, Friday and Saturday were the insurance runs to solidify an impressive draft haul.

The common thread in Tampa Bay’s class is that they prioritized adding instinctive, high-motor players with a genuine love for football. It gives the team a defined roster identity and reflects exactly what the organization set out to build this offseason.

After drafting Rueben Bain Jr., Tampa Bay used its 46th overall pick on Missouri inside linebacker Josiah Trotter. In drafting a player who is “just scratching the surface” of his potential, Jason Licht made quite a ringing endorsement about Trotter talking to WDAE’s Tom Krasniqi.

Bucs ILB Josiah Trotter – Photo courtesy of Missouri Athletics

“He’s very smart, very committed to football,” Licht said. “He’s all football; that’s his entire life. He gets a little bit of a misconception that’s been a narrative that he needs work in coverage, but the guy is athletic. He’s not a slow-twitch player that can’t play in space. Those are things he can do as well.

“He’s a super instinctive player at the line of scrimmage who is also a good blitzer. They didn’t have him do it a lot in their scheme [at Missouri]. He reminds me of his father the way he plays at the line of scrimmage, but no offense to Jeremiah, who is a person you don’t want on your bad side, he’s a faster version of his father.”

As the reaction to the Trotter pick has settled, more context around the selection has emerged. Licht also shared his thoughts and brief scouting report about Georgia State wide receiver Ted Hurst, who was the team’s third-round selection.

Bucs WR Ted Hurst Photo by: IMAGN Images – David Butler II

“He’s fast, he’s got incredible ball skills, and he’s very athletic,” Licht said. “He had a lot of opportunities in the portal with NIL to move on to bigger schools, but he chose to stay at Georgia State which I think is a pretty cool feather in his cap to finish it off with his teammates there. You can kind of connect the dots – 6-foot-4, super-fast, incredible ball skill guy down the field. There have been some great players who have those assets.”

While Licht refused to name who Hurst reminds him of, one can infer about who he is alluding to. There is a long way to go for him to prove himself, but the potential was too great for the Bucs to pass up.

When it comes to defensive back Keionte Scott, the fourth-round selection will have every opportunity to work into the mix in the secondary. What jumped out to the front office about Scott are his intangibles that make up an aggressive player who had the production to back it up in college last season.

Bucs DB Keionte Scott – Photo by IMAGN Images – Jerome Miron

“I love his passion, the way he plays, the instincts, incredible instincts,” Licht said. “He’s a pressure player from the nickel position. He knows how to blitz, he’s got good coverage and zone awareness… He’s been described by a lot of the people there at Miami, along with Rueben, as the heartbeat of the team. So, the energy that he brings every day is something that is going to be infectious and just love all that stuff about him. He’s a winner, and he’s out to prove to the world that he’s better than the fourth-round pick that he was.”

After those four picks, the Bucs rounded out their draft class by selecting Clemson defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart, Notre Dame offensive lineman Billy Schrauth, and trading up to select LSU tight end Bauer Sharp. Regardless of the external thoughts about adding those players, Licht shared how highly each of the team’s seven picks were viewed inside the facility on the team’s big board.

“All seven of our picks fell into our top 100,” Licht admitted.

If Jason Licht is right, which his recent track record suggests he often is, the Bucs did not just draft well. They may have walked away with one of the defining classes of 2026 that will look to hit the ground running early next month during rookie mini-camp.