Buccaneers
Bucs OLB coach and run game coordinator Larry Foote said that rookie OLB Rueben Bain, Jr. impressed the team during his pre-draft interviews with his knowledge of the defense.
“He knew everything on the tape,” Foote said, via the team’s website. “He knew everybody’s responsibility and he was just an above-the-neck guy and told you what the linebacker had and the guys on the inside, he knew the coverage and he remembered the plays. He got that high-def. It was very impressive and when he left, everybody stood up and just shook their head.”
Foote said that Bain’s desire to be great is what the team believes will separate him and make him a long-term starter.
“He is explosive and plays with great leverage and it is hard to block those type of guys,” Foote said. “I am more impressed with his mindset. I kind of got a little feel for that when we interviewed him at the combine but these last few weeks, he has that Lavonte David-focus. That area down in Miami, those guys are just Jesus 1A and Football 1B. Them guys love ball, even when it is break time, he is not pulling his phone out like the rest of them; he is all about ball.”
Falcons
Falcons EDGE Jalon Walker enters the second year of his career after finishing with 36 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and five tackles for loss as a rookie. Atlanta DC Jeff Ulbrich said they want Walker to “master playing on the edge” on first and second downs.
“On first and second down, I want, especially Jalon, to really have an opportunity to just master playing on the edge because I think that there’s something there that’s really special,” Ulbrich said, via Tori McElheney of the team’s site. “Give him an opportunity just to have one home initially and become as good as he can at that.”
Ulbrich said their vision for Walker is “so much clearer” in 2026 and expects him to make “huge strides.”
“I’ll say this, the vision for him is so much clearer in Year 2,” Ulbrich said. “He’s going to make huge strides this year in every way — from a pass rush perspective, a pure end perspective. But then also we’re going to start to utilize his versatility off the ball and all the stuff he can do.”
Walker said they’ve talked about multiple ways he could line up in 2026, including over the ball, against the guard, off the edge, or stacked along the line.
“I feel like we have talked about many ways to move me around along our defensive front, whether it’s over the ball, over a guard, off the edge, could be stacked back at any point in time. Who knows,” Walker said. “But I am just happy for the evolution being there with Brich going throughout the year. So, we’ll see more (once) we’re getting towards training camp.”
Saints
Saints HC Kellen Moore says that first-round WR Jordyn Tyson is sitting out for maintenance rather than injury and will ramp himself up before returning for training camp.
“He’s continuing to ramp himself up,” Moore said, via the team website. “Like all of these rookies, they get here and we kind of get a feel for their bodies and where they’re at and through the whole offseason process they’ve gone through. They’re ramping themselves up. We’ll see where they’re at. I think all these rookies returning trying to build them up, I think the main thing is Phase Three is really a ramp up into training camp and that’s the main focus. We’ll see where they’re at in the next few days.”
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