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This is fascinating.
SI’s Albert Breer, who is very plugged into the thinking at 1 Jets Drive, surmised that the Jets might be leaning towards picking Texas Tech defensive end David Bailey with the #2 pick in the 2026 draft for a reason many of us might not have thought of.
Breer feels Bailey might be the pick that can help Aaron Glenn’s job security more than Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese.
“It’s clear the late-2025 rumblings that owner Woody Johnson wasn’t happy with the state of his team will only get louder if the Jets stumble out of the gate in ’26,” wrote Breer.
Breer added:
“The trouble from here is twofold. One, ownership has already flashed impatience. And at some point, the coaches must have some proof of concept in what they’re trying to build.
“That, to me, is where the decision on the second pick comes in. Having dealt away Williams and Jermaine Johnson, and emptied out the deep crew of pass rushers Robert Saleh had assembled, the Jets were among the worst teams in football last year at getting after the quarterback. For that reason, it makes sense that Bailey and Ohio State’s Arvell Reese would be two guys discussed for the No. 2 pick.
“All of the above is why Bailey makes more sense for the Jets than Reese.”
Why?
“They need [to win more] for the owner, and to give the locker room reason to keep grinding along,” Breer wrote. “This is no affront to Reese—but of the two, Bailey is clearly that guy. Where with Reese, you must have a plan to use and develop him at positions he has great ability but not much experience at, there’s not a lot of that with Bailey. His ceiling isn’t as high as Reese’s, but no one has to close their eyes and conjure up a vision for what he’ll be as a pro.”
So basically, what Breer is saying here is that Glenn needs to win now. Not necessarily win the Super Bowl, but not go 3-14 like last year. So since he needs to win now, he needs to pick a player at #2 who will help him win now, as opposed to Reese, who is more of a project, and could deliver major dividends down the road, but perhaps not as much out of the gate in 2026.
You could make a strong argument that Jets owner Woody Johnson should not allow this kind of thinking in the team’s war room.
It’s important to offer the caveat that we don’t know if Breer’s theory is being subscribed to at 1 Jets Drive, even though he clearly has great sources there.
But it’s always best to stick to the board and pick the best player available – you can’t allow short-term goals to impact long-term planning.
It should also be pointed out that there is no evidence that Glenn is on the hot seat. This is all outside speculation based on his rough first season as Jets coach. We have no idea what Johnson, who is two right-hand men, Ira Axselrad and Hymie Elhai, is thinking about Glenn. None.
And based on something else Breer wrote, Glenn should not be on the hot seat.
“At the same time, despite all the tumult, a roster that was stripped of most of its best players from the 2024 team, and a five-game losing skid that ended a 3–14 season, capped by a blowout loss to the Bills’ backups, Glenn never lost his team. And given that and everything else, including high-profile, in-season trades of stars Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, it’s pretty remarkable the first-year coach pulled that off,” Breer wrote.
So Breer is very high on the coach.
And perhaps Woody, Hymie, and Ira are as well.
So that is another reason they can’t allow the thinking that Breer described to enter their draft war room.
They need to pick the player who will help them over the long haul, not pick a guy who could possibly deliver more immediate results to buttress the coach’s job security.
But you know what, they may view Bailey, when they set their final board, as the best player available at #2 and make him the pick that Roger Goodell (pictured above) announces on April 23.
However, he must be the best player available for the short-term and long-term.
April 14, 2026
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