Jets take Bailey No. 2 to help maligned defense
Mike Florio discusses why the New York Jets took David Bailey No. 2 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft and why their decision may have been affected by past draft failures.
Video Transcript
With everyone knowing that the Raiders would take Fernando Mendoza at pick number one, the draft began at pick number two.
The Jets, would they take David Bailey?
Would they take Arvel Reese?
The betting odds went back and forth.
It was Reese as the favorite for a while, then it was Bailey, then it was Reese, then it was Bailey.
At one point, Reese became the favorite again because Bailey's top 30 visit to the Jets was canceled.
And obviously, the top 30 visit is used for a variety of things, and it doesn't reflect what the Jets were going to do, as evidenced by the fact that the Jets took David Bailey with the second overall pick.
Something Sims and I talked about recently, and this goes back to 2008 when the Jets had the sixth overall pick and they selected Ohio State pass rusher Vernon Golston, who was viewed as a guy with a very high ceiling, limited, limited clear body of work.
He had great games against Jake Long, who was the first pick in the draft that year by the Dolphins out of Michigan.
But it was a risk, and it blew up on the Jets.
Golston lasted three years and had 0.0 sacks in his entire career.
I can't help but wonder whether or not someone in the organization, possibly all the way up to owner Woody Johnson, who obviously was there 18 years ago when the Golston pick happened, let's play it safer.
There may be a lower ceiling for David Bailey, but there's a higher floor.
And we can't afford to screw it up again.
The last time they had the second overall pick five years ago, Zach Wilson.
That didn't work out very well.
They had a second overall pick in 1990, Blair Thomas, the running back out of Penn State.
That didn't work out very well.
The Texas Tech edge rusher becomes a guy that they presumably believe is more likely to give them what they need.
And what they need is someone who will not be a bust with the second overall pick.
It doesn't mean Arvel Reese will be.
It means the Jets at some level concerned about not taking a chance that would, once again, former Ohio State pass rusher, once again, could have blown up in their faces.
So Bailey at two, and now the draft continues.
