What Rueben Bain Jr.'s Short Arm Measurement Could Mean for Bengals' Chances of Drafting Him

CINCINNATI – One of the top options to help the Cincinnati Bengals increase their pass rush is another step closer to the likelihood that he will be available when the team makes the No. 10 pick in the NFL Draft.

Former University of Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr.'s measurements at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis returned an arm length of 30 and 7/8 inches, a number that is historically short.

In 2025, there were five edge rushers drafted with arm lengths shorter than 32 inches.

None were shorter than 31 inches.

Antwaun Powell-Ryland had the shortest arms of the group at 31 and 1/4 inches. The Philadelphia Eagles selected Powell-Ryland in the sixth round with the No. 209 picks.

The edge rusher with sub-32 arms who went the highest was Ashton Gillotte, whom the Kansas City Chiefs picked in the third round with the No. 66 picks.

In 2024, no edge rushers with arms shorter than 32 inches were drafted.

In 2023, no edge rushers with arms shorter than 32 inches were drafted.

Rueben Bain
6022
263
30 7/8 arm
77 1/2 wing

Melvin Ingram
6014
264
31 1/2 arm
77 1/2 wing
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) February 26, 2026

You have to go back to 2021 for the last time it happened prior to the 2025 draft. That’s when the Cincinnati Bengals selected Wyatt Hubert in the seventh round with the No. 235 pick.

Hubert missed his rookie season with a pectoral injury and retired prior to the start of 2022, never playing a game in the NFL.

Bain addressed the arm-length issue during his podium appearance at the Combine on Wednesday.

Rueben Bain Jr. Addresses Arm Length Issue as Bengals Eye Him

“None of the teams seem to be too concerned with it as long as I just talk the talk and walk the walk and play with technique,” he said. “Nobody really asked me about it.

“I really don’t give the kind of time of day for it,” he added. “That’s all stuff I feel like you see on social media. None of the teams had concerns, so I’m not too concerned.”

Prior to 2025, the last player to get drafted with sub-32 arms was Carl Lawson, whom the Bengals selected in the fourth round (Pick 116) in 2017.

That same draft, 13 picks earlier, the New Orleans drafted an edge rusher with exactly 32-inch arms.

His name?

Trey Hendrickson.

Arm length clearly isn’t viewed as an obstacle by the Bengals, but it is for many teams.

Although the stigma could be subsiding.

At 30 7/8" and 30 1/4" arm length, Rueben Bain and Cashius Howell would have the shortest arms for an EDGE rusher drafted in the first round since at least 1999.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) February 26, 2026

In the 10 drafts from 2015-24, there were only five edge rushers with sub-32 arms to get drafted.

And only two of them went before Day 3 – the Baltimore Ravens took Kamalei Correa (31 and 5/8) in the second round in 2016, and the Arizona Cardinals selected Markus Golden in the second round in 2015.

Golden had 51 sacks in nine seasons. Correa had 8.5 sacks in five seasons.

Of the five edge rushers with sub-32 arms who were drafted last year, only two went before Day 3. In addition to Gillotte, Josaiah Stewart also went in the third round (Pick 90) to the Los Angeles Rams.

Gillotte had 1.5 sacks in 17 games for the Chiefs as a rookie. Stewart had three sacks in 17 games for the Rams.

The other three edge rushers with sub-32 arms who were drafted last year were:

David Walker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (fourth round, Pick 121, zero games)

Jack Sawyer, Pittsburgh Steelers (fourth, 123, one sack, 17 games)

Powell-Ryland, Eagles (sixth, 209, zero games).