Jets end weeks of David Bailey speculation with long-awaited No. 2 pick

Rest easy, Arvell Army. Your watch has ended.

Charlie Baduini

Texas Tech Red Raiders linebacker David Bailey / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

After months of speculation and warring reports from various NFL insiders, the New York Jets have officially made the decision to go with Texas Tech David Bailey with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Despite the betting odds suggesting Ohio State's Arvell Reese would be the pick, his perceived high floor was enough to move the Jets off of the 20-year-old hybrid linebacker.

The Jets opted for the high-floor play in Bailey, who is the best pure pass rusher in the class, but has a chance at being even better. Throughout the pre-draft process, he's been touted as the top defensive prospect.

Jets opt for David Bailey over Arvell Reese with No. 2 overall pick

The hottest debate between Jets fans over the last few weeks was between these top two prospects. The Arvell Army and Bailey Bros fought tooth and nail (virtually) for their respective preferred prospect.

There were various good points from both sides, but there was one thing each faction could agree upon, and that's that New York needed pass rush reinforcements.

The Jets needed pass rush help; they finished with the 31st-least amount of sacks in 2025, a testament to their weak group of edge rushers.

Bailey figures to give that group a major boost. He was the top sack-getter in all of college football last season, recording 14.5 by himself as a member of the Red Raiders' vaunted defense.

They flipped Jermaine Johnson for a new nose tackle in T'Vondre Sweat, and signed Joseph Ossai and Kingsley Enagbare as free agents. Ossai will play some stand-up linebacker, while Enagbare has the ability to play stand-up and with his hand in the dirt.

Of course, we can't forget about 2023 first-round pick Will McDonald, who figures to be Bailey's primary running mate. Maybe the Jets felt having both McDonald and Bailey (two pass rush specialists) on the field at the same time would be too much for opposing defenses to handle.

He gives Aaron Glenn the ultimate pass-rush threat to work with heading into his second season as head coach of the Jets.

Charlie Baduini

Charlie Baduini covers the New York Jets as a site expert for The Jet Press and FanSided. He is a sports journalist based in Northern New Jersey with a wide variety of sports reporting experience in print and broadcast journalism. Baduini’s byline can also be seen on Heavy and The Sporting News, where he covers several teams across the NFL and NBA. His work has been featured in Heavy, Athlon Sports, The Sporting News, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and Yardbarker. He also serves as a seasonal intern for ESPN, working as a production assistant for the Heisman Trophy Ceremony every year since 2022. Baduini has been a Jets fan for as long as he can remember, with his family's fandom dating back to the 1960s when his grandfather, Louis, became a season ticket holder. His family has since held on to the tickets to this day. He is an avid fan of the New York Knicks and New York Mets.