NFL insider reveals Jets' pre-draft thought process behind picking David Bailey

The New York Jets, after months of speculation and intrigue, opted to take Texas Tech's David Bailey over Ohio State's Arvell Reese on Thursday night, ending one of the hottest debates among Jets fans in recent memory.

Throughout the pre-draft process, Bailey was the pick for every national media pundit, while a good majority of the local Jets beat insisted that Reese was the selection at No. 2. In the end, the national reporting was correct.

According to those reporters, the reasoning behind taking Bailey over Reese had to do with the Red Raiders' perceived high floor. After all, he's the best pure pass rusher in the class and had the most sacks in college football last season.

But that doesn't explain the Jets' strange pre-draft process, where they cancelled Bailey's Top 30 pre-draft visit and didn't meet with him after his Pro Day.

Tom Pelissero explains Jets' pre-draft thought process on David Bailey

Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero broke down the long and winding road that led the Jets to Bailey, and even explained the cancelled 30-visit.

" I know there was the drama publicly, and they weren't going to say whether it was David Bailey or Arvell Reese. They knew it was Bailey. And if you talk to 10 people around the NFL, nine or 10 are going to say, you have to take David Bailey. He's the best pass rusher in the draft. Arvell Reese, really talented player. But it's a projection. "

Tom Pelissero

Dan Patrick followed up Pelissero's explanation, asking if the Jets knew they were taking Bailey, why cancel his scheduled visit to the facility? Wouldn't they want more information on the player?

"They didn't need any more information on him. I mean, that's it. Like, he's a clean player. You usually use visits if you got medical or character stuff that you need. But in terms of what the Jets ended up doing, yeah, David Bailey, he was a clean prospect. He was the obvious guy. Maybe on some level, you're trying to keep alive the intrigue of, hey, we might take the other guy, make us an offer, come up and get him."

Tom Pelissero

While Pelissero repeated multiple times that Bailey is a clean prospect, there were a few things that popped up throughout the ore-draft process that could've given some talent evaluators pause.

For example, Bailey was allegedly involved in an altercation with a photographer during a game against Arizona State in 2025. The photographer filed a police report, but no charges were brought against Bailey.

Clearly, the Jets checked out the situation and were fine with what they found out. Otherwise, they probably would've had Bailey in on his 30-visit.

Time will tell if the Jets made the right pick, but in the meantime, fans can take solace in the fact that Bailey was a "clean prospect" according to most league insiders.

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