When Titans learned of Rueben Bain car crash, how it affected NFL draft evaluation

Count the Tennessee Titans among the list of NFL teams that had prior knowledge of NFL draft prospect Rueben Bain Jr. 's off-field concerns before news broke to the public this week. A source with knowledge of the situation told The Tennessean that the Titans first learned of Bain's careless driving citation and the connected fallout via a prospect background check ran last summer, and that the incident "didn't really" affect the team's evaluation of Bain .

To this source's knowledge, most NFL teams found out about the incident around the same time the Titans did but no teams have yet taken Bain off their draft board . According to documents obtained by The Tennessean and USA TODAY Sports, Bain was involved in a two-vehicle collision in south Florida on March 17, 2024. Bain was listed as the driver for "vehicle one," which collided with "vehicle two" from behind.

Bain's vehicle swerved as a result of the collision and ended up crashing into a concrete wall. One of the passengers in Bain's vehicle died several months later following injuries sustained in the incident. Bain was cited with a careless driving charge by Florida Highway Patrol, but the case was dismissed in May 2024 by the county courts in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

The case was dismissed on grounds of defective citation. According to a report from The Read Optional , the deceased passenger was in a coma for several months before her passing. Bain's journey through the NFL draft evaluation process has hardly been a straight line.