In a now league, a now society, people anticipate instant impact and results, especially for a highly touted and highly drafted player like the Jets' rookie edge David Bailey.
"I'm not really too worried about expectations," Bailey said on Friday as the Jets (1-3) prepared to face Cleveland (3-1) at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. "I'm just more worried about how I can help the team identify my areas of strengths that I can use to help the team and help put the team in the best position possible."
Only 4 games into his NFL career, Bailey has drawn attention from opposing teams who are wary of his ability to rush the passer, stop the run and even drop into coverage as an edge defender.
Bailey currently boasts an 18.0% pressure rate, a 9.0% run-stop rate, and an opposing passer rating below 50.0 on pressures.
"He's doing a great job of learning and absorbing the things we want him to," D-line coach Karl Dunbar said. "He can play every defense we have, and that's a great thing for a rookie to understand. He can play against the run and he can play against the pass. I think he's done an outstanding job against the run. A lot of the people say he didn't do that in college [Stanford, then Texas Tech] because they didn't ask him to do it. I think I'm pleasantly pleased with what he's doing and what he's giving us."
See photos of the Jets on the practice field for the final time before the Browns game in Week 5.
Bailey currently ranks 15th in pressure rate. He was chipped or double-teamed on 24.7% of his pass rushes, as Dunbar said, the eighth-highest among all players in the top 20. On plays when Bailey has recorded a pressure, QBs have produced a 49.5 passer rating, the fourth-lowest among the top 20, per TruMedia.
His 4.5 speed and 14.5 sacks last season for the Red Raiders helped to propel Bailey to the top of the draft and since April's draft he's worked on upping his play against the run. So far, he's made 12 solo tackles while also getting to the quarterback twice.
"That just came down to the work that I was putting in with my D-line coach Karl Dunbar, he definitely gave me a lot of keys during the offseason to help keep my eyes on the run game, help simplify the game," Bailey said. "It was that I think me playing the run came down to whether I could do it, just whether I had all my tools in place and my eyes in the right spot. Just kind of tweaking little things here and there, and just so obviously lots of room for improvement."
As HC Aaron Glenn pointed out during the week when asked about Bailey's play and progress, much of the rookie's impact has been subtly revealed in film review early each week. On one play at Detroit a few weeks ago, Bailey dropped into coverage, opening a seam that enabled S Andre Cisco to break through and get a sack of Lions QB Jared Goff.
"I've done that, I did that a lot in my Stanford days playing that same outside linebacker role," he said.
Bailey is well aware that he's got a lot of eyes on him, and as high as the expectations might be, the ceiling is vastly higher as he learns and matures.
"I mean it's definitely just different, just because of the level of competition," he said about his welcome to the NFL. "There's a lot of factors that you got to take into it, like the level of competition, a new defense. I'm working with new people, new D-tackles, new DBs. So obviously you got to take that into account. But you know, at the end of the day, it's just football."
