David Bailey's athleticism was on full display during the second practice of Jets training camp. The pads won't come on until Monday, but the rookie edge rusher showcased how impactful his first-step quickness can be for the Green & White's defense as he registered 3 would-be sacks.
"He's everything that we expect him to be and it'll be real exciting once we get the pads on," HC Aaron Glenn said. "I think we all understand during these acclimation days, we're still in shorts, but just to be able to see the energy, and the speed, and the quickness off the edge and the ability to hold a strong edge and the way he wants to play the run game."
Bailey got in the face of QB Geno Smith several times during the team period, which, like Wednesday, focused primarily on first- and second-down situations. Bailey had reps against both offensive tackles, Olu Fashanu and Armand Membou.
Guard Joe Tippmann spoke with the media after practice and provided some insight about what his fellow linemen have said about Bailey: "He's a pain in the [butt]."
"I think he's a great player. I think he's somebody who's going to make the tackles better and the tackles are going to make him better," Tippmann said about Bailey. "Olu and Membou, they've been phenomenal, just the way they carry themselves, the way they attack every day, it's impressive, especially for such a young group of tackles."
Kingsley Enagbare worked opposite Bailey for most of practice and the two combined for a would-be sack on Smith during the last play of the second team period — Smith had no outlet and held the ball.
"He's going to have a long career," Enagbare said after Wednesday's practice. "He can literally do it all, he can stop the run, he can rush the passer, the sky is the limit for him."
See QB Geno Smith & Jets players on the field during the first week of practice during 2026 training camp held at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
Training Camp Timeline
This first week has been an acclimation period and Aaron Glenn explained how the Jets are structuring their training camp schedule. The Green & White won't practice on Friday but will return to the fields at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center for Saturday's Back Together Weekend with fans in attendance.
"My job is to acclimate our players to get ready for the regular season," Glenn said. "[In the first week] the highest amount of reps we get is 24, and then we are going to recover, then we'll bring it down."
Each week, Glenn will increase the snap count by 8, so next week it will be 32 and the following week 40 snaps.
"So what I'm trying to do is get our guys to be ready to play 65-75 plays a game … so each week you'll start to see those reps go up, you start to see that yardage that they have to have, and that's the analytics part of it, yardage will go up also," Glenn said. "I'm trying to get max reps then I'm trying to recover. Max reps, then recover."
In the Huddle
The running backs had a heavy workload again on Thursday, but the receivers and tight ends had some more looks compared to Day 1 of camp.
Geno Smith had quick throws to WR Adonai Mitchell to start both the first and second team periods — the second was placed nicely with Brandon Stephens closely behind Mitchell.
Rookie Cade Klubnik after a pass rush forced him to ground the ball on his first team rep. He hit Arian Smith in a tight window with LB Kiko Mauigoa and CB Nahshon Wright in the area for a sizable gain.
"Man, he made some throws today, didn't he?" Glenn said of the rookie's performance. "Listen, we knew exactly what we were getting. We understand his trajectory when he got to Clemson … We know the hills that he's had in his college career and that's the thing that we're intrigued by him, because he was able to bounce back and continue to go, and to me, that shows leadership too.
"When things went down, man, he continued to go."
In 7-on-7 Klubnik was nearly perfect — his only incompletion was a drop by rookie TE Kenyon Sadiq. Smith found WR Garrett Wilson for 2 of his 5 completions in the period. On the second, Wilson made a leaping grab against tight coverage from Brandon Stephens.
Jetcetera
Kickers Cade York and Jason Sanders were each good from 33, 36 and 39 yards after the first team period … York later went 3 of 3 from 42, 45 and 48 yards … Sanders was wide right from 48 yards … S Dane Belton forced RB Breece Hall to fumble at the end of a rushing play in the third team period … WR Gee Scott is dealing with a calf injury and WR Jalen Walthall has a hamstring injury; Aaron Glenn said he'll "see the exact severity of it when I get [inside]."
