Jets rookie David Bailey has run into his first NFL problem by no fault of his own

If not for his signing bonus and all that guaranteed money, it’d be easy to feel bad for New York Jets rookie edge rusher David Bailey. 

In fact, football fans outside the tri-state area may have even forgotten that Bailey went No. 2 this past April. 

By no means is that Bailey’s fault. No news is good news, especially when it involves a rookie in the New York market. 

But Bailey isn’t only going underrated entering training camp, but he’s also become irrelevant, an incredible feat for someone in his position. 

Why has David Bailey generated such little hype entering his rookie season?

This spring marked the 17th year of the NFL’s current three-day draft format, and the 16th season of the current collective bargaining agreement. 

There is no arguing that, of the 17 players who went No. 2, Bailey easily ranks among those who had little to no buzz ahead of their first preseason. 

Jaguars left tackle Luke Joeckel (2013) and Rams left tackle Greg Robinson (2014) are Bailey’s only competition. 

If we omit those two because they were offensive linemen, then Bailey is probably the winner. I guess you could make an argument for Mitchell Trubisky in 2017, but that’s only among the seven quarterbacks to go No. 2. 

Ndamukong Suh (2010) was among the greatest college defensive lineman I’ve ever watched. Von Miller might have gone No. 1 in 2011 if not for Cam Newton. 

We had a three-year non-quarterback run at No. 2 from 2018-20, and everyone knew all about Saquon Barkley, Nick Bosa, and Chase Young. 

More recently, Aidan Hutchinson (2022) had been floated as a potential No. 1 pick, and Travis Hunter (2025) was the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and a two-way unicorn. 

And to be clear, we’re not talking casual fans. D’Angelo Ponds has arguably drawn the most attention of any Jets rookie not named Cade Klubnik, and Ponds wasn’t even a first-round pick. 

I’m not even talking solely among casual fans. It’s just felt like whenever the national media discusses rookie defenders, we typically hear about Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, or Reuben Bain. 

For once, I promise I’m not calling out the national media. This is simply a trend that we at The Jet Press have noticed in recent weeks. 

But this is also a strange rookie class, partly because there are no rookie quarterbacks entering training camp with a legitimate opportunity to start. 

At least Bailey, unlike Fernando Mendoza and some of the other rookie quarterbacks, has signed his first contract. There’ll be no rookie contract holdouts in Florham Park this summer!

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