NFL insiders have David Bailey leapfrogging Arvell Reese with Jets No. 2 pick

Ever since the end of NFL free agency, it felt like every mock draft you saw had Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese to the New York Jets with the No. 2 overall pick.

It made sense. Despite players like Texas Tech's David Bailey and Miami's Rueben Bain Jr. being better pure pass rushers at their current states, the Jets need to take a swing at star talent, and Reese has the most potential of all.

Those mock drafts changed up this week, particularly with NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah and ESPN's Peter Schrager. Both guys are incredibly plugged in and base their mocks on conversations they have with executives and agents.

Why have these two insiders, miraculously at the same exact time, suddenly decided that the Jets will be taking Bailey over Reese?

Will the Jets be targeting David Bailey over Arvell Reese?

Jeremiah joined Schrager on his podcast, The Schrager Hour, on Monday, and they each revealed their reasons for believing the Jets should take Bailey over Reese.

"We're kind of hearing the same thing that as we're coming down the homestretch here, this feels more like Bailey, bird in the hand pick versus the upside in Reese. More polished, he just has a game plan as a rusher. He's been doing it forever, playing off the edge. He's very comfortable with it."

Daniel Jeremiah

There's certainly a case to be made that Bailey is the more polished player and would be ready to play Day 1 for whichever team selects him. But the more interesting part of the story here is the instantaneous switch-up from two prominent reporters on the consensus for the No. 2 pick.

How did we go from Reese being chalk to this? For starters, it's smokescreen season. No team wants it to be known what player they're keen on taking, especially this high in the draft. Is it possible the Jets are trying to throw teams off the scent of their Reese interest?

There's also a chance that New York is trying to drum up interest from opposing teams to come up and trade for their pick. Darren Mougey made it clear that the Jets are open to moving back; maybe a team that has fallen in love with Bailey would be willing to make the monster offer for the second pick in the draft.

It's tough to say for sure what the real reason is for Bailey surging in the betting odds and expert mock drafts, but this time of year, it could quite literally be anything.