Rueben Bain Jr. May Be Off the Cardinals' Draft Board

ARIZONA – Just under two weeks from the 2026 NFL Draft has provided a shocking turn for a prospect highly tied to the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals, potentially looking to snag an edge rusher in the first round, have been tied with Miami Hurricanes pass rusher Rueben Bain Jr. for much of the offseason. Bain was one of college football's best defensive players and would have solved an immediate need in Arizona.

However, Bain might just be completely off Monti Ossenfort's board.

What Rueben Bain Jr. Did

According to Ollie Connolly, Bain was cited for careless driving in a 2024 accident that eventually saw one of his passengers put into a coma before eventually 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.

"A second passenger was hospitalized with injuries."

This story is also confirmed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Nick Harris.

Why it Matters

Ossenfort has not been the sort of general manager to welcome extra noise or distractions to the locker room since taking over in 2023. The Cardinals, record be damned, have been adamant on getting the right people in the building.

That's not to say Bain isn't the right person, nor has he learned from the incident. That's a decision Ossenfort and the rest of his staff will have to weigh when they're on the clock. Regardless, this is a massive red flag for the Cardinals and other NFL teams.

Bain interviewed with the Cardinals at the NFL Scouting Combine this offseason and says he left a good impression.

"Great interview. Like I said, I over-prepared so I was ready for everything. The Cardinals — that was my fourth meeting — I had the mindset to go in and kill everything and have the best interview as possible. I wanted to leave that interview knowing that I was the best interview they had this whole week," Bain told reporters.

"I feel like that's the mindset that I left, and that was the impression I left because I feel like they were cheesing [smiling] ear to ear every time I said something, so I had to be doing something right."

Bain already was a polarizing prospect in his own right thanks to a historically short arm length for NFL edge rushers. Some thought Bain at Arizona's third overall pick may have been too rich. Now, there could be some extra rationale to that thought.

There's a chance the Cardinals would be willing to still take Bain. We shouldn't forget Arizona signed WR Zay Jones two years ago knowing he was facing a league suspension stemming from a domestic battery charge.

Still, this throws a massive wrench into Bain's overall draft stock — and there's a stark difference between signing a backup veteran receiver on a short term deal and making a potentially franchise-altering first-round pick.

CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones says most teams are aware of Bain's incident and were "satisfied" with the explanation of what happened.

Ollie has the story here. Teams I’ve spoken with the past two months—outside of one—have been satisfied with Bain’s explanation. Most have considered the matter handled. https://t.co/PXVoAMWB7G
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) April 12, 2026

Are the Cardinals one of them?