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As most of you know by now, the Jets cancelled their in-person visit with Texas Tech defensive end David Bailey. The announcement was made by SNY’s Connor Hughes.
Teams get to invite 30 draft prospects to the facility for in-person pre-draft visits. Bailey was supposed to be one of them, but the team decided otherwise.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter summed it up perfectly:
“There are a couple of ways to look at that,” Schefter said. “You could say, ‘Well they have enough information. They are very comfortable moving ahead and drafting him, or they know they’re moving ahead in a different direction.'”
We do not know what the Jets are going to do with the second pick, so all we can do is speculate on the thinking regarding the cancellation of Bailey’s visit.
The Jets have already met with Bailey along the scouting trail. They already have a ton of research on him.
And remember this, new Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich was the interim head coach at Stanford last year.
Bailey played at Stanford from 2022-24 before Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell backed up the NIL Brinks Truck for him to play for the Raider Raiders last year.
So while Reich didn’t coach him, he has plenty of great intel about the player from those around the program to share with Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn.
And the Jets do have somebody on their staff who was with Bailey his entire three years in Palo Alto – Jets QB coach Thomas Merkle was on the Cardinal staff in various positions from 2020-25.
How many NFL teams have Stanford assistants from Bailey’s entire career there on their staff? Merkle is the Jets’ true ace in the hole when it comes to info on Bailey.
So, with Reich and Merkle on their staff, and all the time Jets officials have already spent around Bailey, perhaps they decided they have enough information on him, and they don’t need to make him fly cross-country. Bailey is from Orange County, California.
Last year, a former player accused the Jets of making him fly from California to New Jersey for a meeting that lasted only a few minutes, which he felt could have been handled over the phone.
Aaron Rodgers told WWE’s Pat McAfee that he flew cross-country to meet with the Jets coach last winter about his future with the team, and was told within a few minutes that the team was going in a different direction.
Rodgers told the wrestler, “I was shocked. Not shocked because I didn’t think it was a possibility, but shocked because I just flew across the country and you could’ve told me this over the phone.”
Glenn was asked about Rodgers criticizing his handling of this meeting after the first round of the 2025 draft, and responded, “Membou’s a really good player and I am so excited that he’s a Jet.”
This answer was met with a laugh track-like response from the reporters, and there were no follow-up questions on the subject.
So maybe if the Jets have made up their mind not to pick Bailey, they decided not to force him to fly about five hours each way (and we know the whole travel experience these days takes up a lot more time than just the flights).
Or maybe they have made up their mind to pick Bailey, and that is another reason they felt they didn’t need to make him schlepp across the country.
Remember, in-person meetings can be overrated as far as team interest in the player.
When the Jets picked James Farrior in the first round of the 1997 draft, the linebacker said he was kind of surprised by the pick because they had no contact with him.
Glenn was in the building as a player when that happened.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer had speculated (along with others) that the Jets were leaning toward Bailey because he is less of a projection than Reese. Last year at Texas Tech, he had 14.5 sacks.
The Jets need an edge-rusher who can wreck the game. Bailey has shown what he can do as an edge-rusher, while Reese has the potential to be a very good one, but played a lot of off-the-ball linebacker at Ohio State.
It remains to be seen what hte cancelled visit meant. We will find out on Thursday when they make the pick.
April 20, 2026
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