{"id":990327,"date":"2026-09-02T23:06:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T23:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/990327\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T23:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T23:06:26","slug":"rueben-bain-jr-highlights-the-list-of-4-buccaneers-players-who-have-a-legit-shot-at-making-their-first-pro-bowl-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/990327\/","title":{"rendered":"Rueben Bain Jr. highlights the list of 4 Buccaneers players who have a legit shot at making their first Pro Bowl in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to like about the Buccaneers roster heading into 2026 and there are a few players who have a legit shot at making their first Pro Bowl in 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Buccaneers
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJul 31, 2026; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Rueben Bain Jr. (3) participates in training camp at AdventHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster is set, the schedule is on the table, and Week 1 is just days away. Now that we\u2019ve got all the pieces in front of us, it\u2019s time to have a little fun. There are four Buccaneers players who have a legitimate shot at earning their first Pro Bowl nod in 2026, and the situations around each of them make the case even stronger.<\/p>\n

Quick caveat before diving in: the Pro Bowl game is dead<\/a>, and the NFL killed alternates too, thank God, because that just made things confusing. There\u2019s no way Shedeur Sanders should have ever had a Pro Bowl nod on his resume after last year. With all due respect, it was a farce at that point. <\/p>\n

But the NFL is still handing out the accolade, and now that we have a straight line to follow, a Pro Bowl selection actually means something tangible again.<\/p>\n

So, with all that being said, let\u2019s go ahead and break it down.<\/p>\n

1. EDGE Rueben Bain Jr.<\/p>\n

This is probably a popular name among Buccaneers fans, and for good reason. Bain Jr. is the odds-on favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year at +470 per FanDuel, with Jets pass rusher David Bailey behind him at +500.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the key: since 2014, every Defensive Rookie of the Year winner except Joey Bosa, Will Anderson, and Shaquille Leonard (three players out of 10) has also made a Pro Bowl or earned first-team All-Pro honors. Leonard was a first-team All-Pro and Anderson made the Pro Bowl as an alternate, which doesn\u2019t really count in this situation. Carson Schwesinger in 2025 didn\u2019t make it either, but he was playing for the Browns, and since fan voting makes up one-third of a Pro Bowl nod, not a lot of people were watching Cleveland or paying attention. I know I sure wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the trend is obvious. And if Bain Jr. wins Defensive Rookie of the Year, odds are the Buccaneers\u2019 pass rusher is making the Pro Bowl because Tampa Bay is a good team. They\u2019re not the Browns. They should not finish below .500 in 2026 and should make the playoffs because the NFC South is just the NFC South. They are the better team when you survey the entire landscape.<\/p>\n

That sense of high optimism really wasn\u2019t there during the offseason until Bain Jr. fell to the Buccaneers at 15<\/a>. He\u2019s balled out during training camp and the preseason, and the path is laid out for him. Yaya Diaby on the other side forces teams to account for him. Vita Vea, A\u2019Shawn Robinson, and Calijah Kancey line up in front of him. Alex Anzalone and Josiah Trotter are linebackers who can blitz and then there are guys like Al-Quadin Muhammad, David Walker, and Anthony Nelson who can give Bain Jr. breathers so he can come back in and wreak more havoc.<\/p>\n

The history is there and the present setup is there. That\u2019s why he\u2019s No. 1 on this list.<\/p>\n

2. OT Luke Goedeke<\/p>\n

One of the highest-paid right tackles in the league, Goedeke no longer has Penei Sewell to compete with for right tackle recognition now that Sewell has moved over to left tackle.<\/p>\n

When you look at Goedeke\u2019s ascension over the last few years, the numbers tell a clear story. Yes, he was hurt last year, but he had one of the best seasons of his career. He finished with his highest overall PFF grade in terms of blocking, his highest pass-blocking grade, and his second-best run-blocking grade. PFF grades aren\u2019t the end-all be-all, but they give you a decent sense of where a player stands.<\/p>\n

Goedeke was also one of only two tackles to surrender zero sacks and zero quarterback hits out of a true pass set last season, with Andrew Thomas being the only other qualifier among 53 tackles with at least 416 pass-block snaps. That tells me he has a great shot at making his first Pro Bowl this year.<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers, when healthy, have one of the best offensive lines in the league. Goedeke is an athletic, long, mean tackle who loves to pummel his opponents into the dirt. If the offensive line stays healthy, it\u2019s going to push the offense into that top-10, top-12 range where people notice. Goedeke will be a big part of that equation.<\/p>\n

3. DL Calijah Kancey<\/p>\n

Yes, Kancey has battled injuries over the first three years of his career, and they\u2019ve held him back in terms of what he\u2019s been able to show on the field. But this is the year for Kancey to break out, if he can stay healthy.<\/p>\n

Baker Mayfield talked about it on the Green Light podcast with former Buccaneers defensive lineman Beau Allen, describing just how quick and twitched up Kancey is and how much of a menace he can be even against the short passing game. Quick two-step, three-step drop, get the ball out fast, and Kancey is still a factor.<\/p>\n

If he\u2019s back there pummeling quarterbacks and running backs in the backfield and racking up sacks, which he should be able to do with the counterparts lined up around him, this is Kancey\u2019s year. The Buccaneers face a couple of questionable offensive lines in the Bengals and Browns in Weeks 1 and 2, and when you look at the full schedule, this defensive line is set up for success. It\u2019s the deepest unit on this team, the most talented unit on this team, and it can be a disrupting factor with Kancey potentially leading the way.<\/p>\n

When you consider that Vita Vea is probably going to get slowly ramped up over the first couple weeks of the season, that opens the door even more for Kancey to do his thing and show his value. If the Buccaneers defensive lineman catches early fire, he could ride that momentum into the rest of the season and right into his first Pro Bowl nod. <\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t that be great if he stays healthy for the first time in his career and it leads to exactly that? It just shows you what he\u2019s truly capable of.<\/p>\n

4. WR Emeka Egbuka<\/p>\n

Mayfield, again on the Green Light podcast, talked about how the Buccaneers kind of took advantage of just how smart Egbuka is, which is why he was playing all over the place last year. Now that he\u2019s settling in at the Z position, that can unlock a whole new world for him in terms of production.<\/p>\n

We saw last year that Egbuka can carry a passing attack. There\u2019s no question about that. He was on a Pro Bowl track until the back half of the season when everything fell apart for Tampa Bay. Now that he\u2019s firmly entrenched in one position and can concentrate on using his leverage, his athleticism, his route running, and his intelligence, that can unlock a whole lot of things.<\/p>\n

The pieces around him in the Buccaneers passing attack should only help. And that\u2019s the key with all of these guys: they\u2019re all in great situations with the right parts around them to flourish. Egbuka has the toe he\u2019s dealing with, but he should be ready by Week 1. Everything is set up for him to pick up where he left off last year and elevate from there.<\/p>\n

Four Buccaneers, four legitimate Pro Bowl candidates, all with the supporting casts and situations to make it happen. If even two of these guys break through, it tells you everything you need to know about where this roster stands heading into 2026.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"It\t\t<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Buccaneers News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJason Licht puts the ball in Baker Mayfield\u2019s court by shutting down contract extension talks during the regular season\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Baker Mayfield set his own personal deadline for a new deal ahead of training camp and Jason Licht is fine with that. Now, Baker\u2019s 2026 season will determine where things go from here on out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Tampa Bay Buccaneers There\u2019s a lot to like about the Buccaneers roster heading into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":990328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[265,211,130004,4625,702,7,6,32194,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":["post-990327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-american-football","tag-buccaneers","tag-buccaneers-pro-bowl","tag-calijah-kancey","tag-emeka-egbuka","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-rueben-bain-jr","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaybuccaneers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117203959198915447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990327","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=990327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}