General manager Darren Mougey, head coach Aaron Glenn and the Jets are holding their cards close to their vests at the NFL Combine. But draft watchers have been consistent in their analysis that if Fernando Mendoza is taken by the Raiders at No. 1 overall and no other QB rises to the occasion, the Green & White may well be in the Round 1 market for a defensive force.
Arvell Reese, Ohio State's transformer-like multitalented linebacker, has been going to the Jets at No. 2 in many mock drafts. But recently another name has risen the charts to be a player the Jets may have interest in: Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey.
Bailey would be honored to go that high in the draft. But in general, he's just happy to be here, here being the NFL Combine workouts in Indianapolis.
"Just to go top two, top three, top 10, first two rounds, it doesn't really matter to me," Bailey, Texas Tech's monster edge rusher in 2025, told reporters at the start of the Combine. "This is just a super-cool opportunity for me that, looking back, I didn't know if I ever thought I'd be here. I'm just super blessed and grateful to be here."
But that doesn't mean Bailey doesn't feel he's about to do some damage in the NFL.
"I think it's my athletic ability and just my pass-rushing ability — not too many people can get to the quarterback consistently," he said of what makes him one of this draft's top defensive players flying across the line of scrimmage. "We have great edge rushers in this draft class, for sure, but I think it's just my overall athletic ability."
Bailey's college journey bears that out. He played collegiately for four years but only last year at Tech after growing and learning in multiple ways in his three seasons at Stanford. He played 32 games as a part-time starter but full-game danger to opposing QBs, finishing that phase of his career with 14.5 sacks.
Then at Texas Tech, he matched that total in one season, 14 games, with his 14.5 sacks for the Red Raiders tying for the FBS lead. One platform pegged his 81 QB pressures as the best among college defenders, and his 19.5 tackles for loss were second-most in FBS.
"I learned a lot of great things at Stanford under Bobby April," Bailey said of his defensive coordinator and OLBs coach with the Cardinal, who is now the Bills' OLBs coach. "I had a pretty good, decent junior season. That next step, I think it really came down to Coach [C.J.] Ah You's teaching and also just all the resources that Tech had. It allowed me to be a pro. That last year, I was living like a pro, I was taking classes just to be eligible. But I wasn't trying to earn a master's or anything, so I had a light course load and it allowed me to just lock in on football and become the best player I can."
Don't let that quote fool you. Bailey wasn't a pretend college player. He earned his degree in three years at Stanford.
"If I want something and put my mind to it, I feel like I'm able to achieve that," he explained of his off-the-field learning. " The goal of graduating in three, I really didn't think about it until after freshman year. The reality was after that, where I started taking community courses and online courses to get more credits and graduate. So as soon as I knew that's what I wanted to do, I put my mind to it and I was able to achieve that."
Kind of like what he's envisioning for his time in the NFL.
"The first comes with just being athletic," he said. "I had a great strength staff at Stanford, a great strength staff at Tech, and that just helped me become the best athlete I can. Also, I just watched a lot of edge rushers so I was just trying to emulate my game after Von Miller, I watched a lot of DeMarcus Ware, Aidan Hutchinson, just watching different pass rushers and getting different tips and tricks from that.
"And obviously, I play my own game. I have a unique game."
Perhaps Bailey has the kind of game that would fit nicely into the scheme envisioned by Glenn (who, purely coincidentally, coached Hutchinson for three seasons as Detroit's defensive coordinator), new DC Brian Duker and the Jets' evolving scheme. More to be revealed in the next two months leading up to Round 1 of the draft.
