Latest Arvell Reese, David Bailey comments have Jets fans caught in a blender

The New York Jets are just hours away from picking either Ohio State's Arvell Reese or Texas Tech's David Bailey with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and insiders around the NFL media landscape have no idea which way GM Darren Mougey is leaning.

Jets who want Reese despite many national insiders saying they won't take him may have been given a kernel of hope, as Bailey shed some light on how little the Jets have gone out of their way to bring him in.

In a pre-draft interview, Bailey mistakenly called Mougey "Monti," a Freudian slip that could have been hinting at a past call with Arizona Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort. Arizona picks third, one pick after the Jets. Bailey also mentioned that he has not been in the facility at all.

Reese, meanwhile, said that he likes everyone he has interacted with in New York. "Aaron Glenn broke it down to me," Reese said. "I'm one of those guys he thinks fit into what he wants to do with the Jets." This sounds like the words of a man who thinks he is going No. 2 overall.

Arvell Reese, David Bailey share enlightening comments on Jets

The Jets canceled their Top 30 visit with Bailey, which means one of two things. The Jets are either so sold on Bailey being the top pick that they didn't need any more information on him, or they know they are taking Reese and don't want to waste a visit on a player that is not going to be available after the top five.

It does seem a bit unusual for the Jets not to request that additional bit of information on a prospect who may end up as the highest-drafted defensive player in franchise history, from the outside looking in.

The Bailey-Reese debate is a classic finished product vs. upside war. Bailey will come right into the NFL and get to the quarterback, while Reese carries a higher ceiling despite the lack of certainty over his true position at the NFL level. There's a world in which both players stand out for the Jets.

Both players are likely going to be excellent pros, and that slip of the tongue likely isn't going to be any sort of indicator on which way they will go, but it will add to the deluge of seemingly endless pre-Draft smoke around these two.

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