INDIANAPOLIS — Measurements! Testing! On-field drills!
Those are some of the main talking points in Indianapolis as the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine rolled on Thursday with the start of televised workouts. Defensive linemen and linebackers took the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, and a few of the top prospects in this year’s draft class dominated. But the day also brought us several more media availabilities with top draft prospects.
Here are four takeaways from Day 3 of the combine:
1. NFL personnel high on Rueben Bain Jr. despite short arms
Miami (Fla.) edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr.’s suboptimal arm length was one of the biggest talking points of this year’s draft entering combine week. We now have an official measurement for it after Thursday: 30 ⅞ inches.
At that arm length, the Miami star would have the shortest arms for an edge rusher drafted in the first round since at least 1999, according to data available by Mock Draftable.
Despite that, there does seem to be a strong feeling in league circles that Bain has a bright future as a pro. His power, polish and pass-rush repertoire jump out on tape.
The reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year registered 83 pressures (!), 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss last season.
“Shorter arms or not,” a high-ranking AFC executive told me, “he’ll find a way to factor in games.”
The Titans, who have the No. 4 pick, are one of the teams who’ve publicly spoken glowingly of Bain, too.
Miami (Fla.) edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. didn’t partcipate in on-field workouts at the combine on Thursday, but his measurements could cause be a cause for concern. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
“His tape is undeniable,” coach Robert Saleh told Titans media this week. “He is an unbelievable football player. He plays with great violence. His football IQ is off the charts. … There are certain things he’ll have to adjust to like all these rookies will, but I think he’s a kid that is going to have a lot of success in this league.”
I do wonder, though, what having an official measurement for Bain’s arm length could do for his draft stock.
League personnel have known his arms were short, but do they now become too short? Could he potentially slide into the teens in Round 1, after being a consensus top-five guy?
“I really don’t give the time of day for it,” Bain said Wednesday on the discourse about his arms. “That’s all stuff I feel like you see on social media. None of the teams had concerns, so I’m not too concerned.”
We’ll see the true feeling of teams on the first night of the draft.
2. Ohio State’s Sonny Styles and Texas Tech’s David Bailey were the big winners from combine workouts
Buckeyes linebacker Sonny Styles, a consensus first-round pick, stole the show Thursday after posting a 43.5-inch vertical and a 4.46-second 40-yard dash with his 6-foot-5, 244-pound frame. That vertical is actually the best mark ever for a linebacker at the combine. He’d already been projected to go in the top half of the first round, but the rare athleticism he displayed could thrust him into the top five or just outside of it.
Styles had 82 tackles (6.5 for loss), three pass breakups, an interception and a forced fumble for Ohio State this past season.
Texas Tech star edge rusher David Bailey also impressed with an official 4.50-second 40-yard dash. Bailey reached 22.91 miles per hour, which is the third-fastest top speed in the 40 by any edge prospect at the combine over the last four years, according to Next Gen Stats.
The showing could make Bailey the first edge rusher taken in April’s draft. He’s been in contention for that possibility with Ohio State’s Arvell Reese and Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr.
The first edge rusher could go as high as No. 2 to the Jets, who are reportedly trading former first-round pick and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson to the Titans for defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat.
Bailey tied for first in the FBS this past season with 14.5 sacks and second with 19.5 tackles for loss.
Reese also had his moment on Thursday when he ran a 4.47 in the 40-yard dash that was later bumped up to a 4.46.
3. Imagine if Caleb Downs played a premium position …
The hype would be nuts, right?
Despite being a safety, the superstar out of Ohio State tied Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza for first place when we polled a small group of NFL executives and scouts at the combine earlier this week and asked them to name the top overall prospect in the draft. But there hasn’t been significant hoopla with him, at least not the kind you’d expect for a prospect who’s been given a “generational” label by draft pundits.
Downs answered in the affirmative when asked if he’s the best defender in this year’s draft on Thursday.
“I feel confident every time I step on the field,” he said at the podium. “If I would say I stepped on the field and thought anybody was better than me, yeah, that’s not true.”
Downs is on track to be the highest-drafted safety since 2017, when Jamal Adams went No. 6 overall to the Jets. He has a realistic chance of going top five.
And when you consider all that he can do, he should be. He’s been a versatile, high-impact chess piece in the Buckeyes’ defense the last couple of years.
Downs played more than 140 snaps at three different positions this past season: in the box (241), free safety (240) and slot corner (146), per Pro Football Focus. He also played 44 snaps on the defensive line and nine at outside cornerback. His versatility as a safety is similar to Ravens All-Pro Kyle Hamilton.
“It’s not really positional value. It’s who affects the game,” Downs said. “If you affect the game in a lot of ways, that’s what is most important. That’s really all I can worry about. … At the end of the day, my film is what it is.”
It shows a premium player, even if he’s not at a premium position.
4. Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq’s combine performance is uniquely valuable
It was fitting that Sadiq, the draft’s top tight end, made sure to tell reporters that he was going to make the most of this weekend in Indianapolis.
“I want to make a statement and have a dominant combine performance,” he said Thursday. “One of the best to do it.”
He appears to be an impressive athlete, but because he’s just 6-foot-3 — and an inch shorter than his NFL comp, Trey McBride — it’s of the utmost importance that Sadiq confirms his athleticism with impressive testing numbers over the course of the weekend in Indianapolis.
“The versatility, I think I bring, explosive pass game. I’m going to go run a great 40 and all those things tomorrow,” Sadiq told reporters. “Just showing how explosive I am in the pass game, but in the run game as well, so I can help a team all around.”
Sadiq seems like a clear Round 1 prospect. But the difference between the Ravens at 14th overall (with a $23.3 million deal) and the Broncos at 30 (with a $16.9 million deal) is considerable.
If he can do what he’s saying, there’s a chance he breaks into the top half of the first round.
4 ½. A Curt Cignetti story to leave you with
One of the best moments of the day came from Indiana tight end Riley Nowakowski, who was discussing Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti.
Through laughter, the tight end prospect explained a memorable moment during one of the team’s blowout victories this past season.
Backup quarterback Alberto Mendoza, Fernando’s younger brother, was in the game. And the sophomore had pulled the ball on a zone read multiple times in a row.
“Then after like, the fourth time of it, it was a terrible read. He should’ve given the (play up) after he lost like two yards,” Nowakowski explained. “[Cignetti] tells a coach, ‘Get Bert over here! Get Bert over here!’ So Bert’s like, ‘what? It’s the middle of the game. What are you doing?’
“He runs over to the sideline, bro,” Nowakowski continued. “[Cignetti] goes, ‘we’re not paying you to run the ball! Hand the ball off!’ We’re up like 70 points. He’s pissed off, yelling at Bert.
“Then he just turned back at me and gave me one of his little smiles, bro,” he added. “He was just like, ‘You like that?’”
Henry McKenna contributed to this report.
