For the first time in a long time, something unexpected is dominating football conversations during Pro Day season.
Bag drills.
Yes, you heard that right.
During the recent Pro Days for Miami Hurricanes football and Ohio State Buckeyes football, pass-rushing bag drills have taken over football Twitter. And at the center of it all are two of the most intriguing defensive prospects in the country: Rueben Bain Jr. and Arvell Reese.
And let’s be clear, they looked very different.
When Bain bends around the edge, everything looks natural. He’s polished, trained, and explosive. His movements are efficient, his footwork is clean, and his ability to turn the corner looks like a player who has done this over and over again at a high level.
Reese, on the other hand, showed something different. When he attacked the bags, you saw him chop his feet, slow down, and lose some of that natural explosiveness that shows up on game tape. It didn’t look as clean. It didn’t look as refined.
But here’s the part that matters.
That’s not who Arvell Reese is when he’s going against real people.
Turn on the film, and Reese is explosive, powerful, and violent at the point of attack. He bends the corner with destructive intent and plays with a level of physicality that jumps off the screen. What showed up in the drill is not a lack of ability. It’s a lack of repetition in that specific setting.
And the numbers back that up.
Bain has logged 1,149 pass-rushing snaps, while Reese has only had 138 pass-rush opportunities.
That gap shows up.
Bain is simply further along in his development as a pass rusher. He understands the nuances of the position. His body knows what to do because he has done it repeatedly. When you draft Bain, you are starting from a higher floor. You are getting a player who can come in Day One and operate as a primary pass rusher without needing much projection.
But Reese is a different kind of weapon.
He’s not just a pass rusher. He’s a defensive chess piece.
Reese has taken over 50 snaps in the slot, more than 500 snaps as a box defender, and over 330 snaps on the defensive line. He has even lined up at corner. That level of versatility is rare, and it opens the door for a creative defensive coordinator to unlock something special.
So while Bain may be the more polished pass rusher today, Reese may offer more ways to impact a defense tomorrow.
And that’s where the decision gets interesting.
If you want a star pass rusher who is ready to go immediately, someone you can trust to win off the edge or slide inside over a guard like he did early in his college career, then Bain is your guy.
If you want a defensive playmaker with elite pass-rushing potential, positional versatility, and the upside to become something even bigger with the right development, then Reese is the swing worth taking.
I’m still on the Reese train.
But this drill made one thing crystal clear.
The most polished and NFL-ready pass rusher right now is the one people keep knocking for having short arms.
And that’s Rueben Bain Jr.
