Five things to know about edge rusher David Bailey, the Jets' top pick and No. 2 overall selection of the draft on Thursday night:
A Regular Speed Demon
Perhaps you've heard that Bailey's speed off the edge was among the best in college football for Texas Tech last season. Bailey then demonstrated that speed at the NFL Combine, ripping off a 4.50 in the 40.
There are various ways to compare that time to other edge rushers. The combine tracker listed both Bailey and Ohio State's Arvell Reese with the defensive ends as edges, and Reese's 4.46 nipped Bailey for the best time in that group.
But if we go to **NFLCombineResults.com** and look at their D-end 40 leaders since 1987, we don't see Reese (he was listed with the OLBs). What we do see is that for the available times for all DEs in the past 40 combines, Bailey's 4.50 is sixth-fastest at the position, behind the likes of Penn State's Chop Robinson (4.48 in 2024) and Dwight Freeney out of Syracuse (4.48 in 2002). Bailey is in pretty fast company as he starts the NFL phase of his career.
Student of the Game
Bailey studied some great pass rushers while in college. And when he transferred to Texas Tech last season, he lined up behind one of them in the Big 12 record book. Von Miller 17.0 sacks for Texas A&M in 2009 are the most in conference history, and Bailey's 14.5 sacks last year not only tied for the 2025 FBS lead but came in tied for third in Big 12 history.
"Yeah, for sure I watched a lot of Von Miller," Bailey said. "That was probably the first professional player that I started watching and I watched him a little bit freshman year. ... But I think it was after that sophomore year when I started like really honing in on him. I'd watch his highlights, I'd create cutups on my phone."
Miller's not a bad guy to go to school on — he's got 138.5 career sacks, tied-for ninth in league history, and is still going, actively seeking to re-sign with the Commanders, his latest NFL team last season.
The Proverbial Sponge
Bailey has a second go-to pass rusher for video seminars. Aidan Hutchinson has "an elite get-off," he said, adding that he's patterned his three-point technique on that get-off. No doubt this is all fine by Bailey's new HC, Aaron Glenn, who was Hutchinson's D-coordinator for his first three seasons with the Lions from 2022-24.
And the new Jets send kudos to C.J. Ah You, his outside linebackers coach with Tech last season and now a potential opponent as the OLBs coach on Mike McCarthy's new Steelers coaching staff.
"Getting under Coach Ah You was great because he's super-knowledgeable about pass rushing," Bailey said. "He took my game into the next level, and that was like the first time I could really rely on my coach for pass-rushing techniques that transferred over to games."
All(-Academics) in the Family
Football isn't Bailey's only area of concentration. He's committed to learning in general. Some of that comes from his older brother, DJ, who was a DT and a three-year Ivy League letterman at Harvard from 2015-17.
"There's a general notion of football players, you know, they just don't take academics seriously. it's kind of all football," David said, adding of DJ, "He was able to balance both football and school and be elite at both of them. So I felt like I had that same ability to do so."
And a lot of the younger Bailey's success came from his own relentless drive — he graduated from Stanford in 2024 with his degree in science, technology and society in fewer than four years. "I know I wanted something better for my football career, so I got with my academics. ... It was extremely important getting in there and finishing what I started."
Setting His Sack Sights On ...
Bailey was asked if he's looking forward to sacking any particular NFL quarterback. "Yeah," he said. "Bryce Young, if I ever get the chance."
Why the Carolina Panthers' first overall pick of the 2023 draft? They're actually acquaintances, not super-close but still both graduates of Mater Dei HS in Santa Ana, CA, and they run into each other at offseason workouts in Southern California, most recently a few weeks ago.
Since the Jets just played Bryce and Carolina at MetLife last season, sacking him just once (by Jowon Briggs) in the Panthers' 13-6 win, the first opportunity for Bailey to take down his old acquaintance could be 2027, when the Jets will play an NFC South team at home based on division standings, or at the latest in 2029 at Charlotte, NC.
