The Jets have signed rookie edge David Bailey. The Texas Tech product, who was the first of the Jets' three first-round picks, was selected No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft.
After racking up 14.5 sacks and 22.5 TFL his first three college seasons at Stanford, Bailey (6-3, 251) set personal bests in 2025 with 14.5 sacks and 19.5 TFL. He was credited with 81 pressures according to Pro Football Focus, which was the second-highest total in the FBS. After the season, Bailey was named a first-team All-American and the Big 12 DL of the Year.
"I feel like I improved on my understanding of the game as a whole, my football IQ, and then obviously my pass rushing ability, too," Bailey said. "Getting under [Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire] was great because he's super knowledgeable about pass rushing and he took my game to 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."
At the NFL Combine in February, Bailey posted a 4.5 time in the 40-yard dash in addition to a vertical of 35-inches and a board jump of 10-9. He is an explosive athlete who was the best pass rusher in the 2026 class.
"Just first-step quickness, and that's obvious when you watch the tape," said HC Aaron Glenn. "The way he's able to beat tackles around the edge, but don't take him for a guy that can just rush with speed around the edge. There are several long-armed, there are several power things that he's done within his game that allows him to be able to show that he can rush for power. So, listen, we're going to try to unlock everything that he can. Obviously, we have some really good coaches that are going to be able to help him. Man, we're really excited about that player."
Bailey, who graduated from Stanford in 2024 with his degree in science, technology and society in fewer than four years, is a pass-rush student. He has watched film on both Von Miller, who is tied for ninth in league history with 138.5 sacks, and Lions edge Aidan Hutchinson.
"After that sophomore year, I think is when I started like really homing in on him," he said of Miller. "I'd watch his highlights, I'd create cutups on my phone and whenever I was doing extra work over on the weekends. I'd try to emulate his moves and stuff like that. So, I watched a lot of Von. I know I got my pass rush stance, that three-point stance, get-off, from Aidan Hutchinson. He has an elite get-off, so those are the two main ones. And then I would just go on Instagram man and Instagram has a lot of D-line pages, D-line gurus, a lot of cut ups that I sometimes save into a folder and then if I see something that I like that I think I can maybe translate to the game – I'll do it, I'll save it."
The Jets staff has a lot of familiarity with Bailey going back to his days in Palo Alto, CA. The list of former Stanford coaches on staff include offensive assistant/assistant quarterbacks coach Thomas Merkle (three seasons as a graduate assistant and quality control coach), assistant offensive line coach Al Netter (two seasons as co-OL coach) and offensive assistant Matthew Sargent (one season as a GA). Jets OC Frank Reich, who was named the Cardinal's interim head coach on March 31, 2025, was part of the team's contingent that who attended Texas Tech's pro day and went to dinner with Bailey in Lubbock, TX.
"We talked about a couple of players like [TE Sam Roush] and everything and we chopped it up," Bailey said of Reich. "But we both had to say the same thing about Stanford. It was a great spot with great players and it was just an amazing campus and a great university as a whole."
Bailey became the highest defensive player selected by the Jets.
