Bailey (6-3, 251) entered the draft highly touted, with a résumé to support any and all expectations. He logged 14.5 sacks last season at Texas Tech after playing three seasons at Stanford and earning a bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology and Society in fewer than 4 years. The early reviews and evaluations from the team’s staff and his teammates have been nothing short of raves — and this even before the players will don full pads in practice starting Monday.

“Yeah, he’s everything that we expect him to be, and it’ll be really exciting once we get the pads on,” HC Aaron Glenn said during the week. “I think we all understand that through these acclimation days, we’re still in shorts, but just to be able to see the energy and the speed and the quickness off the edge, and the ability to hold a strong edge and the way that he wants to play the run game, it’s everything that I imagined from that player.”

Across the defensive front, in addition to drafting Bailey, GM Darren Mougey and Glenn went about revamping and retooling the unit, signing in free agency edges Joseph Ossai and Kingsley Engabare; trading for DT T’Vondre Sweat and signing free agent DT David Onyemata. They join DT Harrison Phillips and edge Will McDonald IV as the guys DC Brian Duker and D-line coach Karl Dunbar expect to get after the QB.

For Bailey, getting his arms around the quarterback “is the best feeling in the world.”

“I play football for a lot of reasons,” he said. “Now I can go on why I love football, but getting a sack, that’s the one. It’s literally probably the best feeling in the world. It’s like nothing else.

“Sometimes it feels like you’re entering kind of a little bit of a flow state, and like everything’s just falling [into place]. And obviously, when I get a sack it’s usually because my D-line is doing well, or my linebackers are operating well in the secondary, and the DBs are also covering well. So it’s a team effort. But yeah when you get those games, it’s a good feeling, and ultimately it’s satisfactory.”

A flow state, which is comparable to being “in the zone,” has been described as a mental state of deep immersion, intense focus and energized.

For David Bailey there’s no better place and no better feeling in the world.