Rueben Bain, Todd Bowles And Sacks From The Edge
May 11th, 2026
Edge rush history.
Since KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles first became a defensive coordinator with the Eagles in 2012, he has yet to develop a rookie defensive end who went on to have 10 or more sacks.
Bowles has done fine with veterans, but the one Joe who is nervous about Bowles developing 2026 first-round pick Reuben Bain started having an anxiety attack about this subject while reading a complimentary piece about Bain from Tom Blair of NFL.com. There, Blair pointed out that Bowles has been woeful in developing edge rushers in recent years.
I don’t know how much it bothers Todd Bowles that he’s only coached two players to double-digit sack seasons since he first became the Jets’ HC in 2015 (Muhammad Wilkerson, who had 12 for the Jets that season, and Shaq Barrett, who logged 19.5 and 10 under Bowles as the Bucs’ defensive coordinator in 2019 and 2021).
Joe doesn’t think this bothers Bowles much, if at all.
And Joe knows what you are thinking. No, Jason Pierre-Paul never had double-digit sacks with Bowles. JPP did have 12.5 sacks with Mike Smith (!). JPP added 8.5 sacks in 2019 and 9.5 sacks in 2020, and then Father Time took JPP away.
Another element to this is three years after Wilkerson had 12 sacks in 2015, Bowles cut him. (Wilkerson wasn’t exactly an angel.)
Despite Bowles’ sad record developing edge rushers, Blair still thinks Bain can be a monster for the Bucs.
At this particular juncture of Bain’s career, his shorter-than-average arms and draft-day slide might seem like defining elements of his story. It wasn’t that long ago, though, that he was tormenting passers at a prolific rate. If Bowles can get him doing that again — and he seems pretty psyched about that possibility, wherever Bain lines up — those details will fade into footnotes.
The same Joe who is freaked out about Bowles and edge rushers is still willing to give Bowles and Bain a chance to prove everyone wrong, that Bowles can and will develop a rookie edge rusher.
The futures of several people could ride on that result.