After he stuffed the stat sheet Sunday in the Jets' 17-12 win over the Browns, edge David Bailey has been named Pepsi Rookie of the Week. Bailey shined in the rain, registering 3 (of the team's 8) sacks, 7 tackles, 4 QB hits and 3 TFL.
"Just working together with my d-line, also the linebackers," Bailey said of the keys to pass-rushing success. "Understanding what pressures are being called, where the pressure is coming from, and how that affects my approach to my rush. So, I think just understanding the defense as a whole and rushing together with our rush lanes integrity."
Since sacks became an official NFL statistic in 1982, Bailey is just the fifth player in the NFL to register 5.0 sacks within their first five career games.
His 22.0% pressure rate is the highest by a player with 100+ pass rush snaps inside their first five career games since 2016, sharing a top five with Jalen Carter, Byron Young, Nick Bosa and Myles Garrett.
"Dave has been talked about a heck of a lot," said DT Jowon Briggs. "So, for him to go out there and have that type of performance is something that I'm very, very, very, happy about man, and it kind of goes to show you he's here for a reason and he's going to continue to keep doing those types of things. And to be frank, I wasn't surprised, and I'm sure a lot of the other d-linemen weren't surprised. We're going to continue to getting after people and continue to keep seeing that guy grow and play football."
The Jets selected Bailey with the No. 2 overall pick in last April's NFL Draft. He played 32 games at Stanford and amassed 14.5 sacks over three seasons. Then at Texas Tech in 2025, Bailey tied for the FBS lead with 14.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss, second-most in the FBS.
"His get off is impressive for his size," said WR Tim Patrick. "His willingness to work and how much work he puts into it. I've been around first-round picks, everybody has top-five picks, but the attention to detail and the work that he puts in every day of how he carries himself, the work he puts in on the field, it's very impressive and he does it very quietly. I try to poke him a little bit to see if he's going to give me something different and he never does. He's always cool, calm, and collected. I was told at a young age, those are the dangerous ones, and he definitely showed that this week with three sacks."
