The NFL Draft is coming up, and there are some extremely talented players coming into this year's draft, and one of them is David Bailey. After having a solid career at Stanford, Bailey dominated for the Texas Tech football program last season and was a huge difference maker on their way to the College Football Playoff. He now has a chance to shoot up the 2026 NFL Draft boards after his performance at the NFL Combine.
The Athletic's college football reporter Bruce Feldman gave his big takeaways from the NFL Combine, and one of his biggest was that David Bailey has a chance to dominate in the NFL this year. Bailey tested extremely well at the NFL Combine, and Feldman thinks that he is even better coming out of college football than Abdul Carter was.
Bailey is 6-feet-4 and weighs 251 pounds. He ran a 4.50 40-yard dash and broad jumped 10-9. It is worth noting that Bailey and Parsons both tested very similarly.
There are some big edge rushers in the class, including Bailey, with Rueben Bain Jr. and Arvell Reese also being big contenders to be drafted in the top five and top 10 overall.
Last season, Bailey finished with 52 total tackles, 32 solos, three pass breakups, 14.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles. Then, he finished with 163 total tackles, 106 solos, three pass breakups, 29 sacks, and 10 forced fumbles for his college career.
Bailey arrived at Texas Tech as one of the most decorated transfers in the country after three productive years at Stanford. A former four-star standout from Mater Dei, Bailey was a dominant force for the Cardinal before making the move to the hyper-aggressive defensive system in Lubbock.
It is worth noting that Abdul Carter was not as productive as Bailey and did not enter the NFL as polished as Bailey will be. The measurables are similar physically, but Bailey was able to show more at the college level. When you combine that production with those measurables, Bailey has a chance to dominate offensive lines across the NFL completely. Carter had a great final season at Penn State, like Bailey at Texas Tech, but he was more raw athletically.
