It hasn’t been a fun start for the New York Jets, but rookie edge rusher David Bailey has given them at least one thing to hang onto.
Bailey got to Packers quarterback Jordan Love on the first play of Sunday’s game, and that gave him sacks in each of his first two NFL appearances. Per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, he’s the first Jet to do that since Shaun Ellis. For a player taken No. 2 overall and billed as a win-now piece all through the pre-draft process, that kind of start at least gets your attention.
Still, the early production comes with a caveat. Bailey’s first two sacks have not exactly been clean, dominant beatdowns of offensive tackles.
His Week 1 takedown of Cam Ward against the Tennessee Titans was described as a minor shove out of bounds, and the one against Love came on a busted play that Bailey read correctly. Even so, the Jets will take the results.
Outside of those splash plays, the numbers have been more modest than the hype that followed him into the league. Pro Football Focus gave Bailey a 51.1 overall grade and a 55.5 pass-rush grade in Tennessee, both marks that landed in the bottom 12 among qualified edge defenders. His best work in that game came against the run, where he posted a 63.5 grade, 25th out of 61 edges.
The same mixed bag showed up in Week 2. Bailey had the sack on the opening snap, but the rest of his day included just one tackle for loss and a costly penalty on a key 3rd and 19 late in the game.
It’s still a tiny sample, and two games is hardly enough time to stamp a verdict on a rookie. But for a player who came into the league with big expectations, the Jets are probably right to want more than a couple of opportunistic sacks.
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