The New York Jets selected Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey with the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Bailey gives coach Aaron Glenn and the Jets a big-time pass-rushing presence for a defense that was among the NFL\u2019s worst last season.<\/p>\n
The pick kicks off what should be a busy early stretch for New York, which has four selections in the first 44 spots in the draft. Tight end Kenyon Sadiq of Oregon is the New York Jets\u2019 second pick of the night at No. 16. <\/p>\n
The best tight end in the draft, Sadiq sports excellent speed and athleticism. He has an explosive release and can separate on wheel routes. Quick screens are his forte, because he can flash his skills after the catch. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like this organization is trending in the right way,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cI\u2019m just ready to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bailey is the highest-selected defensive player by the Jets in the NFL draft since the 1970 merger.<\/p>\n
With Las Vegas long linked to quarterback Fernando Mendoza at No. 1 overall, the most suspense centered on what New York would do one pick later. In the last few weeks, Bailey and Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese were most often linked to the Jets \u2014 and it was just a matter of which one they\u2019d select, if they didn\u2019t trade the pick.<\/p>\n
General manager Darren Mougey stayed at No. 2 and took Bailey, who\u2019ll be expected to help boost a pass rush that ranked 31st in the NFL with only 26 sacks. The crosstown-rival Giants drafted Reese with the fifth overall pick. <\/p>\n
Bailey was a force last season for Texas Tech, tying for the FBS lead with 14 1\/2 sacks. He also ranked second with 19 1\/2 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and three pass breakups in 14 games, including 13 starts.<\/p>\n
With the Jets, Bailey will help replace edge rusher Jermaine Johnson, who was traded to Tennessee for defensive tackle T\u2019Vondre Sweat in February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat feeling, it\u2019s like no other,\u201d Bailey said of getting sacks. \u201cIt\u2019s really what I be chasing. I have a lot of motivations for why I play the game. That\u2019s one of them. That feeling when you get a sack and the crowd is on your side, especially during a home game \u2014 but regardless, home or away \u2014 it\u2019s one of the best feelings. I take a lot of pride in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After three seasons at Stanford, the 22-year-old Bailey transferred to Texas Tech and was an AP All-America pick, the Big 12 defensive lineman of the year, the conference\u2019s newcomer of the year and a finalist for the Lombardi Award as the country\u2019s top lineman.<\/p>\n
The Jets canceled their top-30 visit with Bailey last week, leading some to speculate that the team had waning interest. But Mougey said Tuesday at New York\u2019s pre-draft news conference that wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn regards to David, we had good touch points with him at the combine, we went to his pro day, had a good dinner with him,\u201d Mougey said. \u201cWe were just kind of juggling our 30 and how to use them and I wouldn\u2019t look too much into a cancellation because there were other ones we may have changed, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bailey will get his visit to the Jets\u2019 facility, after all. As New York\u2019s top draft pick.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a great interaction with them at the combine,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cObviously, they canceled the 30 visit, but other than that, man, I had a great FaceTime with Mougey and everybody. \u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the fourth time in franchise history that the Jets picked second overall and first since they took quarterback Zach Wilson in 2021. Running back Blair Thomas (1990) and wide receiver Johnny \u201cLam\u201d Jones (1980) were the others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Jets selected Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey with the No. 2 overall pick in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-207984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}