![\"Rueben](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2256163794-e1776041122337.jpg\")
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Rueben Bain Jr. #4 of the Miami Hurricanes is a Dallas Cowboys target in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n
If you thought it was just his short arms that potentially cleared the way for the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> to see star pass-rusher Rueben Bain drop to No. 12 in next week\u2019s NFL<\/a> draft, it turns out that\u2019s not the only issue at play. The Cowboys had a meeting with Bain last month, among the first of the pre-draft slate, and there\u2019s no doubt the interest in him is clear. but there\u2019s a lingering issue that has some teams skittish on Bain heading into the draft\u2013a 2024 car accident in which Bain was cited for careless driving, and accident that eventually led to the death of one of Bain\u2019s passengers.<\/p>\n Ollie Connolly of the Read Optional<\/a> broke the story and wrote on Twitter\/X on Sunday, \u201cNews: Reuben Bain was cited for careless driving after a March 2024 crash in Miami that left a passenger in a coma. That passenger, a 22-year-old student, died three months later. NFL teams are aware and investigating, per sources.\u201d<\/p>\n The consensus among most draft reporters in the wake of the story was that NFL teams have known about the crash for some time and have mostly done their due diligence on how or whether the news affects Bain as a draft prospect.<\/p>\n Rueben Bain NFL Draft Impact \u2018Tough to Say\u2019<\/p>\n Beat writer Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who first reported Bain\u2019s meeting with Cowboys brass, outlined in detail what\u2019s known about Bain\u2019s situation, in a post on Twitter\/X. He pointed out that there are no criminal charges still hanging over Bain, and that even the careless driving charge was dismissed. He added that there is a chance that a civil suit by the passenger\u2019s family is still a possibility.<\/p>\n As for Bain\u2019s draft stock, obviously, an incident like that does not help anything. But, Harris wrote, \u201cHow could it affect his draft positioning? Tough to say. If more concrete info (which has been tough to come by) is released ahead of April 23, that could help offer clarity to that question.\u201d<\/p>\n And, of note, too, Connolly wrote on Twitter\/<\/a>X: \u201cOne league source aware of the 2024 incident: \u2018it doesn\u2019t feel like [Bain] has been transparent with us.’\u201d<\/p>\n Cowboys Have NFL Draft Interest in Rueben Bain<\/p>\n The Cowboys have, obviously, long had interest in Bain, and the team badly needs more edge-rusher help. Dallas traded for Rashan Gary<\/a> from the Packers<\/a> last month, but are still light on talent at the spot, and bringing in Bain would be a boost.<\/p>\n While most NFL draft gurus are putting Bain well ahead of the Cowboys\u2019 clutches\u2013anywhere from No. 3 to No. 9\u2013there have been some recently who have said that Bain could be the top-ranked star who could slide down to Dallas. But it is not clear whether the lingering effects of the car accident might knock the Cowboys out of the running for Bain.<\/p>\n \u2018A Perfect Fit\u2019<\/p>\n Among the analysts who see the Cowboys and Bain as a match is ESPN\u2019s Matt Miller, who wrote this week on Twitter\/X in a list of things he was predicting, \u201cRueben Bain outside top 10.<\/a>\u201d ESPN\u2019s Kevin Clark also laid out the possibility that the Cowboys could land Caleb Downs or Bain at No. 12, and would become a \u201ccontender<\/a>\u201d if they did.<\/p>\n And Bucky Brooks of NFL.com has Bain dropping to the Cowboys at No. 12, with the site noting<\/a>, \u201cEDGE rusher Rueben Bain Jr.\u2019s physicality makes him a perfect fit for the Dallas Cowboys with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Cowboys\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Rueben Bain Jr. #4 of the Miami Hurricanes is a Dallas Cowboys target in the NFL Draft.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-865191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallascowboys","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116394663234593825","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}