A trio of well-known draft pundits are claiming that Darren Mougey and his scouting department have decided who the Jets will take with the second pick in the draft in Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey. All that’s left now is for Roger Goodell to make the announcement on draft day according to Daniel Jeremiah, Albert Breer and Peter Schrager.
Schrager may have gotten the ball rolling with his mock draft that came out just a couple of days ago, predicting Bailey would become a Jet with with the second pick. He then appeared on ESPN with Daniel Jeremiah, who concurred with the assessment, saying “we’re kind of hearing the same thing”. Jeremiah would go on to say that what’s putting Bailey ahead of Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese because he’s a more “polished” player.
While it’s true that Bailey is more of a “plug and play” edge rusher than Reese, he’s nowhere near as good against the run and doesn’t ‘have a floor as high as Reese’s. While it may be two or three seasons before Reese has a big impact as an edge rusher, it could be worth the wait if he hits his ceiling.
Should the Jets opt for Bailey, they’ll have a high-end edge rusher with an elite spin move who leaves plenty to be desired against the run. With an edge rusher on the roster who already fits that description in Will McDonald, would the Jets want to keep both on the roster or explore a trade in hopes of landing more draft capitol?
Having a tandem of David Bailey and Will McDonald coming off the edge on 3rd and long would be a defensive coordinator’s dream come true. However, having them on the field together in any kind of running situation would be an absolute nightmare as any offensive coordinator worth his salt will use an extra tackle or pair of blocking tight ends to steamroll the Jets on the ground at every opportunity.
