NFL Combine winners and losers, Day 1: Rueben Bain Jr.'s arms sound the alarms

The NFL Combine has already been going on in Indianapolis with executive and coach interviews, player interviews with teams, and so on for the past couple of days. However, Thursday was the real start of seeing some of the big stuff for the 2026 NFL Draft. Defensive linemen and linebackers — one of the best and deepest position groups in the draft class — were officially measured and began their athletic testing and on-field drills as well. And with that, we always learn quite a bit.

One of the things I always say is important to remember for the NFL Draft when it comes to the Scouting Combine is that what we see in testing and measurables is only part of the puzzle, not the entire picture. The evaluation of a draft prospect should be about more than arm length and 40-time in a vacuum (and without pads or being in a game setting). However, that doesn't mean that the NFL Combine doesn't also produce winners and losers. These are those who fall in that group from the defensive linemen and linebackers.

NFL Combine losers from Day 1 with the defensive line and linebackers

EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. (Miami)

Let me preface this by saying that I'd still take Rueben Bain Jr. in the Top 5 or 10 and that he's still clearly one of the best edge rushers and prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft class. Having said that, the NFL Combine was not kind to him, despite the fact that he announced that he would not be participating in athletic testing.

One of the biggest concerns about Bain when watching the film has been his arm length. Those concerns were not only confirmed, but actually might've been more warranted than we even previously thought. Bain's arms measured at just 30 and 7/8 inches, while also measuring in at only 6-foot-2 as well. For context, according to the Mockdraftable database that goes back to 1999 with their Combine data, only three edge rushers have ever measured with shorter arms than Bain, and it's nearly three inches below the average of 33.5 inches in their data.

For a player on the edge who can use their arms to create separation against tackles and double-teams or chips from tight ends, arm length can be an built-in weapon. While that's true and will raise some more questions about Bain's build, he's such an explosive and powerful player who thrived against Power 4 competition at Miami. I'm still sold on him being a special talent, but there's no denying that the arm-length measurement will create more doubters than there were.

EDGE Cashius Howell (Texas A&M)

Speaking of questions arising from arm's length, remember when I said that Bain's measurement had only three other players shorter in the history of the Combine? Well, coming into the day, it was actually only two players before him, but then Texas A&M's Cashius Howell was also measured, and came in with the shortest arms for an edge rusher in Mockdraftable's database at 30 and 1/4 inches.

Now, much like Bain, there's still a lot to like. While I would argue that his arm length matters a bit more than it does wwith Bain when it comes to Howell's style as a pass-rusher, it's also undeniably not his calling card. His twich is top-tier and his bend off the edge is truly elite. There aren't many tackles with their size who can simply keep up with the way that he can get around the edge and into the backfield, which is why he logged nearly a 20% pass-rush win rate this past year with the Aggies.

Howell has pretty consistently been ranked as a Top 15-25 player in the 2026 NFL Draft, and my belief based on the tape is that he's still going to be a first-round pick. But doing so will now carry much more risk, considering what an outlier he would be with his arm length, and with a less proportional wingspan with his frame than even Bain.

LB/EDGE Arvell Reese (Ohio State)

No one is arguing the fact that Arvell Reese is one of the most dynamic and best players in the 2026 class. At the same time, his hybrid position at Ohio State has raised questions about what position he will play at the NFL level. He said during public interviews at the NFL Combine that he thinks of himself as an edge, but the measurables say otherwise. Here's a look at how Reese measured, and where they would rank percentile-wise among edge rushers:

That doesn't look too promising, and might start to paint a picture for Reese being better-suited as a primary off-ball linebacker who is able to rush the passer, rather than the inverse of that. Of course, that could all depend on whichever team drafts him as well, and what their plan for the Ohio State product is when he gets into their specific system.

When you consider the high-end salary discrepancy between EDGE and linebacker, however, you can understand why Reese would prefer that label. We will, however, have to see how he tests, because the physical measurables certainly don't point to him being an edge rusher, even if he's still a phenomenal player and athlete.

NFL Combine winners from Day 1 with the defensive line and linebackers

EDGE Malachi Lawrence (UCF)

Malachi Lawrence didn't come to Indy as a household name for the 2026 draft, but he might be leaving the NFL Combine as one. The UCF standout wasn't overly productive in his time in college, reaching a career-high of eight sacks back in 2023 and nearly matching that in 2025 with seven. However, he still graded out well as a pure pass-rusher, and now he's put truly freakish athletic testing numbers to go alongside that.

After measuring in earlier at a stout 6-foot-4, 253 pounds with over 33.5-inch arms, Lawrence went out and tore up the testing with insane explosiveness. He clocked in with the second-best vertical jump at 40 inches, as well as the second-best broad jump of the group as well at 10 feet, 10 inches. For a man with solid size and a nice frame to also be packing that type of burst off the ground says a lot about his potential.

Largely projected as a Day 3 pick coming into the Scouting Combine, the fact of the matter is this is the type of testing performance that's going to make people go back to the tape and look harder. These are the types of traits teams will bet on, even in the Top 100, when it comes to athleticism, and Lawrence could truly be one of the bigger risers after the week in Indianapolis.

LB Sonny Styles (Ohio State)

Before Sonny Styles even got the chance to put on the spandex and run the 40 or do any of the other athletic testing on the day, the Ohio State linebacker (who shares more similarities to Reese than some people are willing to admit) already started stealing the show at the Combine.

Styles measured in at 6-foot-5 flat, 244 pounds with 32 and 7/8-inch arms and over an 80-inch wingspan. That puts him at 97th percentile in height and, with the wave of smaller, leaner linebackers in the modern NFL, 70th percentile in terms of weight. But what stands out is that Styles posted these measurements while being one of the best pure athletes at the position, and notably having played safety earlier in his career with Ohio State.

Many have been pounding the drum for Styles already in the draft process as someone who should be a lock to be a top-10 pick. With what the tape shows and now understanding just how freakish the Buckeyes star is physically, it's going to be harder and harder to argue with that assessment.

DL Caleb Banks (Florida)

Caleb Banks has long been a fascinating evaluation in the process, largely because he missed most of the 2025 season due to injury. And in the three games that he did play for Florida this season, he wasn't all that impressive, though that could obviously be at least partially attributed to returning from injury. But when he showed up at the Senior Bowl, we saw the dominant force that the Gators had in the trenches in the 2024 season back on the field.

Just as the Senior Bowl was crucial to reignite the conversation around Banks, so too is the Combine. And Banks more than showed what a force he can be. That started with the measurements, in which he proved to just be a enormously built human for the type of athlete he is at 6-foot-6, 327 pounds with 35-inch arms. He then followed that up with an above-average 10-yard split of 1.76 seconds in the 40-yard dash, the second-best broad jump among defensive tackles (9-foot-6), and a more-than-respectable 32-inch vertical — which, again, was at 327 pounds.

If the lack of availability had caused any doubt that Banks will be a first-round pick in April's draft (barring any other concerns), that should be pushed aside now. When healthy, he can be a game-wrecker at every turn, and he's now proving that time and again throughout the draft process.

DT Demonte Capehart (Clemson)

In the same light of big fellas just moving freakishly, we have to talk about Demonte Capehart. While the Clemson product doesn't get nearly the same shine as his interior teammate, Peter Woods, Capehart proved to be one of the biggest individual standouts at the NFL Combine with his combination of measurements and then the testing at his size.

Capehart tipped the scales at 313 pounds while at 6-foot-5 and showing off more-than-adequate 33 and 7/8-inch arms. But then he started testing, and the real marvel started to show out. At his size, he posted a 4.85-second 40 time with a 1.71-second 10-yard split, while also putting up a 33.5-inch vertical jump.

Big men who can explode in that way are simply a rare commodity, even in the NFL. While this might not push him from being a likely Day 3 pick to being a Day 2 pick, I fully expect this to be enough to make Capehart an early pick on the final day of the draft. Teams will be lining up to bet on the physical traits with non-premium selections.