David Bailey is an EDGE from Texas Tech who is ranked No. 34 on my NFL Draft Top 100 Big Board. This comprehensive scouting report analyzes Bailey’s draft potential, current mock draft trends, and where he ranks among the top prospects.
David Bailey’s NFL Draft Potential
David Bailey has the top PFSN CFB EDGE Impact grade in the entire nation, with a glistening score of 92.6. He’s a relentless, near-unstoppable pass-rush presence who’s terrorized almost every blocker he’s faced.
There were clear glimpses of Bailey’s potential at Stanford in 2024, when the four-star recruit — who originally had offers from Alabama, USC, and Oklahoma in high school — racked up seven sacks, eight tackles for loss, and five forced fumbles.
At Texas Tech, however, Bailey has reached an entirely different level as a defensive game-wrecker, with 12.5 sacks and 16 TFLs through the regular season. Encased within those numbers, he also has an excellent PFF pressure rate of 22.7%, and a strong 17.9% pressure conversion rate.
At 6’3″, 247 pounds, with excellent proportional length, Bailey is built to win the leverage battle and simultaneously outreach blockers, but he can also create instant angle advantages with his instant explosion, arc-running speed, fluid bend, and lightning-quick lateral agility.
As a pass-rusher, he’s shown he can generate speed-to-power with his frame, but he excels in particular with rips, inside counters, and brisk swim moves.
Bailey’s run defense remains inconsistent at times, but even there, he’s flashed the ability to stack-and-shed blocks while limiting displacement, then flow to the ball with voracity. Week 9 was a strong showing for Bailey in run defense, where his peak flashes were apparent: He can acquire leverage, stack and shed, and make plays in pursuit.
Tying together Bailey’s game is his truly unhinged motor, which — in tandem with his electrified first-step and lateral explosive range — is a deadly trait. That same motor can get him in trouble at times when he lacks discipline after the snap and draws penalties, but overall, it’s a massive boon in a game where physicality and urgency are both needed.
Having said all this, Bailey still grades on the Round 1-Round 2 fringe for me, and he’s not quite a bona fide first-round prospect by my grade. His frame is a bit high-hipped which can contribute to slight bend and reduction limitations, and his non-elite play strength and mass shows up against larger blockers.
Nevertheless, factoring in both my grade and positional value, Bailey is worthy of late Round 1 capital at the very least, and could be worth mid-first capital for teams with the proper schematic fit.
As a wide-alignment rusher in odd and hybrid-front schemes, Bailey can thrive as a dynamic pass-rush catalyst with run support upside, and a relentless motor that underpins his game.
Where Is Bailey Being Selected Most Often in the PFSN Mock Draft Simulator?
Bailey currently holds the No. 23 overall rank among prospects, placing him among the first-round caliber prospects. His most recent Average Draft Position (ADP) of 20.9 as of December 6 reflects that he is typically being selected in the first round.
This small gap between rank and ADP suggests he’s consistently valued among evaluators, even amid fluctuations in player evaluations at this stage of the draft cycle.
Users controlling the Dallas Cowboys have been the team that selected Bailey the most frequently over the past week, accounting for 5.3% of their picks across all seven rounds. Notably, 15.6% of the Dallas Cowboys’ first-round selections over that same period were used on Bailey, underscoring users’ strong preference for him as a potential immediate-impact EDGE defender.
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Where Does David Bailey Rank Amongst Other NFL Draft Prospects?
Bailey is currently ranked No. 34 overall in my December 2026 NFL Draft Big Board. Among EDGE prospects, Bailey ranks 3rd at the position, trailing prospects like Rueben Bain Jr., Keldric Faulk. With a ranking inside the top 64, Bailey is positioned as a Day 2 prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Want to see how we rank all the draft prospects in the PFSN Mock Draft Simulator? Check out our NFL Draft Prospect Rankings page, which includes more than 750 prospects.
