Throughout the offseason, NewYorkJets.com reporters Eric Allen, Randy Lange and Jack Bell will give their responses to a series of questions regarding the Jets.
Today's question: What's the Jets' Landscape at No. 2 Overall?
EA: The Jets certainly will have some interesting options. Barring something unforeseen, the only player GM Darren Mougey won't have the ability to select in the 2026 NFL Draft is QB Fernando Mendoza. The Heisman Trophy winner is set to call Las Vegas home and there won't be much suspense when he hears his name called by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shortly after the draft opens in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Then all eyes will be on the Green & White and it's shaping up to be a fascinating decision. The Athletic's Dane Brugler released "The Beast 2026" this week and included more than 2,700 players in his labor of love. Ohio State versatile defender Arvell Reese is Brugler's top overall prospect while Brugler ranks Texas Tech's David Bailey his No. 7 overall prospect. While Reese, still a neophyte at edge and a dynamic off-the-ball linebacker, might have a higher ceiling overall, the consensus is Bailey is the better pass rusher now. Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love is an electrifying playmaker, but running back is one of the Jets' strongest positional groups and only 3 RBs have been taken No. 2 overall since 1994 (Marshall Faulk, Indianapolis 1994;Reggie Bush, New Orleans, 2006) and Saquon Barkley (Giants, 2018). The Jets figure to add a receiver and that could happen early draft weekend, but it feels like a longshot at No. 2 overall. LB Sonny Styles -- another one of Reese's teammates -- is a freakish athlete who possesses the range of a safety and is a downhill thumper. And Mougey is open to taking calls, so you wonder if a sweetheart offer could move the Jets off No. 2.RL: It's a rich scenario for the Jets, and yet simultaneously it's pretty simple. Assuming the Raiders aren't snowing everyone and take QB Fernando Mendoza first overall on Thursday night, the rest of the draft racetrack landscape is wide open for the Jets at No. 2. As Aaron Glenn said of his seemingly anti-"Best Available" philosophy, courtesy of Sean Payton: "If we love the player, man, we're going to go get him." But you don't need a boarding-house reach to grab one of the two best players in this draft, both at a position of need. The Jets were 31st in the NFL last season with 26 sacks and their sacks/pass attempt rate of 5.05% was 29th. Pair someone up with Will McDonald IV and the beefed-up interior and turn the line loose. Arvell Reese has been the chalk as the Green & White's pick at No. 2 for a while, but I'm liking David Bailey moving up on the outside. At Stanford in 2024, he tied for fourth in FBS with 5 forced fumbles. Last season with Texas Tech, he tied for second in FBS with 14.5 sacks. Bailey has been pegged by a number of analysts to be the more polished edge right now, while Reese is said to have a higher ceiling. There's something to be said for each type of player, but why not help solve one of last year's problem areas? My ticket reads Bailey to win in the second at Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
JB: If Trader Mouge, the nimble and creative GM Darren Mougey that is, decides to hang on to the No. 2 overall selection in next week's NFL Draft, it appears that adding an edge rusher is a foregone conclusion. ... Or maybe not. Will it be Ohio State's versatile Arvell Reese? Texas Tech's tenacious QB hunter David Bailey? Or Miami's Rueben Bain Jr.? In his first draft last year, Mougey made several late-round moves, but as last season's trade deadline approached he really showed his aggressive colors when he dealt CB Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis and DT Quinnen Williams to Dallas, both of whom were past first-round picks. In return, the Jets received a boatload of first-round picks -- 5 over the next two drafts and a couple of players. In the past week or so, the pendulum (at least among pundits) has swung from Reese, a freakish athlete with oodles of promise, to Bailey, a plug-and-play sack machine (14.5 sacks, 19.5 TFL) for the Red Raiders last year. In the offseason the Jets have already beefed up the defensive line with Joseph Ossai, Kingsley Enagbare and David Onyemata. They've brought in LB Demario Davis, who at 37 years old could serve as a worthy mentor to Reese. Options, Mougey has myriad options before Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
