The Jets seem to have narrowed down their options for the second overall pick in April’s draft to edge defenders Arvell Reese and David Bailey.
Reese seemed to emerge as a clear favorite earlier this week, as noted by PFR’s own Adam La Rose. However, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah and ESPN’s Peter Schrager believe that Bailey will be the Jets’ choice on draft day.
“Bailey is a much more polished pass rusher,” Jeremiah explained. “He’s the more known commodity, whereas with Reese, you’re planing the upside game and hoping what you’re going to get.”
Schrager and Jeremiah then said they have both heard that the Jets prefer Bailey as a “bird in the hand” pick – a more pro-ready, polished prospect who will immediately upgrade New York’s pass rush. But Brian Costello of the New York Post threw some cold water on that projection, arguing that their source was probably coming from outside rather than inside the organization.
It seems, therefore, that the Jets have yet to lock in their choice for the No. 2 pick. With two weeks until the draft, they still have plenty of time to settle what seems to be a two-man race. Jeremiah compared the Jets’ choice to the Jaguars’ in 2022.
“It reminds me so much of the [Aidan] Hutchinson–Travon Walker debate,” he said. “‘Hutch’ is the better pass rusher right now and Travon Walker was this physical freak who’s not there yet, but you’re hoping he’s going to get there. Now, both of them have been really good pros. In that scenario, the better athlete went ahead of the more polished player.”
In this case, though, he believes that the opposite will happen. Bailey has more experience as an edge rusher compared to Reese, who primarily played off-ball linebacker at Ohio State and will need to develop a pass rush repertoire in the NFL. Bailey already has a full set of moves and a gameplan for how to use them to get to opposing passers. And as Hutchinson shows, having a high floor does not mean that there is a low ceiling in terms of upside.
I’ve been saying it for months, Bailey is and should be the guy. Reese can maybe become a pass rusher, David Bailey is a very legitimate one
I’ve seen Reese listed as a safety, LB, & edge rusher. That works in college, not in the NFL. So many ‘tweeners’ come into the league and don’t succeed because they are misplaced every game day.
Who on earth listed Reese as a safety? Styles started out as a safety before moving to linebacker, but that’s not Reese. He can be either an off-ball linebacker, an edge, or someone who’s versatile between both like a Donta Hightower type. Not safety. Plenty of guys have found their footing in the league just fine after entering the league with some positional uncertainty between the two. Micah Parsons turned out OK.
‘Styles started out as a safety…’ Thanks for proving my point.
Proving your point? Styles is Sonny Styles, a linebacker teammate of Reese’s who will also go high in the draft, but is a whole separate person.
Nobody has ever listed Reese as a safety, nor has he ever played safety, including in high school. He was an edge and linebacker then, too.
Agree that I wouldn’t consider him a safety but he did play 5 games at safety as a junior in high school
I stand corrected. Couldn’t find that anywhere, as all scouting services called him an edge/LB and referred to his skills in those areas. Was he specifically a box safety? I can’t imagine anyone using him in cover 2 or as a single high safety, even a high school coach, when he’s so impactful around the ball.
I had no idea but googled it and it said he played the first 5 games of his junior year in high school as a box safety (as you said) and then he moved to linebacker. He was huge in high school
True, he’s a lot like Isaiah Simmons was coming out of Clemson.
I don’t think so. Simmons made the most sense at safety, but the NFL was convinced he was a linebacker because of his size, but most importantly the role he played in college doesn’t exist in the NFL. Reese plays two roles that do in a defense that actually translates to the NFL.
@Mad Hatter- Harold Perkins is closer to Isaiah Simmons than Arvell Reese is, and Perkins is still way different.
Perkins is such an odd one. He’s too light to be an NFL off ball linebacker, but his best skill is rushing the passer. He’s very talented, but what on earth is he in the pros? In a perfect world he’d put on 20 good pounds and rush off the edge, but kinda seems like he would have done that by now if he could.
Yeah, I’m with you there. I was high on Perkins’ based on production prior to injury last season, then started to analyze him more closely this year and just don’t know if his game translates to anything more than an effective special teamer. I wouldn’t mind spending a 5th on him, I guess, just to see if an org can figure it out, but I’m not confident.
Obviously a different sort of physical specimen, but I wonder if a coach might be able to deploy him somewhat like what Flores has done with Ivan Pace Jr. You can focus on all sorts of things he isn’t, but maybe if you unleash him as a blitzer, you’ll give people headaches.
Aaron Glenn is presumably fighting for his job. The Jets need a pass rusher now, not in 2 years when Arvell Reese has developed. They are 100% taking Bailey.
By the same logic, the Jets aren’t winning anything this year. They should take the player who can be the best part of a core going forward, not right this minute.
100%
It’s fun to hear the “experts” tell us all what the Jets plan to do, when most of the time, the Jets themselves, have no idea what they are doing 🙂
It really doesn’t help when the next Madden comes out months after the draft! How is Brick supposed to scout prospects?
I strongly prefer Reese. Bailey is a very good pass rusher, but I don’t know if any other part of his game will develop.
If Reese is the real deal as a LB, you have to take him.
Pass rushers are available in every single draft. It is extremely difficult to find an actual All Pro OLB who can cover at all and play both on the line of scrimmage and off of it.
Heard on a AZ sports radio station that the Cardinals like Bailey over Reese also, and that if the Jets do take Bailey with the number 2 pick, that the Cardinals would look to trade down from the number 3 picks a few spots in order to gather extra picks so they can trade back up into the first round to get there Alabama QB.
They need to trade down.