The Cincinnati Bengals watched Trey Hendrickson walk out the door and sign a four-year, $112 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this month. Now, one analyst believes they’ll use the 10th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to find his replacement in Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr.
Why Rueben Bain Jr. Makes Sense for the Cincinnati Bengals’ Pass Rush
In his latest mock draft, PFSN’s T.J. Randall projected the Bengals to draft Bain with their first-round pick, acknowledging the selection might raise eyebrows given the team’s recent defensive line investments.
“Cincinnati has seen movement along the defensive line over the last 365 days, following the first-round selection of Shemar Stewart last year, the loss of Trey Hendrickson, and the addition of Boye Mafe in free agency this year,” Randall wrote. “It’s reasonable to view Rueben Bain Jr. as an unlikely or unnecessary selection here.”
Randall added, “But if the board as a whole falls this way? That would be tough to turn down for a defense that ranked in the bottom 11 in both sack and pressure percentage last season, per NextGen Stats.”
Bain dominated at Miami, earning the Ted Hendricks Award and ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2025. His 20.5 career sacks and relentless motor made him one of college football’s most disruptive defenders. On the PFSN Consensus Big Board, Bain is ranked as the eighth-best prospect of the upcoming draft class.
The concern? His arm length measures less than 31 inches, which would make him a historical outlier among NFL edge rushers. That limitation might push Bain inside at the next level. Some evaluators project him as a defensive end in a four-man front rather than a stand-up pass rusher, giving Cincinnati flexibility in how they deploy him alongside Stewart and Mafe.
Trey Hendrickson’s Departure Still Haunts the Bengals
The Bengals had opportunities to recoup value for Hendrickson. They could have franchise-tagged and traded him last season. Instead, they let him walk for nothing more than a projected compensatory pick, and he landed with a division rival who’ll see Joe Burrow twice a year.
Cincinnati responded in free agency by signing Mafe to a three-year, $60 million deal, adding safety Bryan Cook on a three-year, $40.25 million contract, and bringing in veteran defensive tackle Jonathan Allen on a two-year, $25 million pact.
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The investment makes sense when you consider what Burrow accomplished in 2024, leading the NFL with 4,918 passing yards and 43 touchdowns while playing behind the league’s 25th-ranked defense. The unit got even worse in 2025, finishing with one of the worst defensive DVOA marks since 1979.
According to PFSN’s Defense Impact Metric, the Bengals’ defense has finished the last three seasons with these ranks compared to the rest of the league:
- 2023: 27th-ranked with an impact score of 74.3
- 2024: 28th-ranked with an impact score of 68.9
- 2025: 28th-ranked with an impact score of 65.3
Bain would give Cincinnati another young, high-upside rusher to pair with its offensive firepower. Whether his arms are long enough to thrive at the NFL level remains the question that will define his draft stock.
