The Jets ended up with three first-round draft picks, getting help for a team that desperately needed help at every position.
After selecting Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey second overall and Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, the Jets traded back into the first round. They gave up picks 33 and 179 overall for the 30th overall choice.
The Jets used the selection on Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr.
They needed a No. 2 wideout to pair with Garrett Wilson, giving Geno Smith two legit outside weapons.
Cooper had 69 receptions for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The 49ers have a longer wait for their first pick after a second trade down in the first round. They went from 27 to 30 in a trade with the Dolphins and now move back to 33, the first choice in Friday night’s second round.
With their first first-round pick on Thursday night, the Jets went defense. With their second, it was offense.
Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq is the 16th overall pick in the draft.
Sadiq ran a blazing 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the Combine. His presence gives new offensive coordinator Frank Reich a potent weapon to go along with receiver Garrett Wilson and running back Breece Hall.
Whether and to what extent it improve things this year depends largely on the performance of quarterback Geno Smith, the team’s second-round pick from 2013 who’s back for a second stint.
The Jets inherited the 16th overall pick as part of the trade that sent cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Colts during the 2026 regular season.
All of the talk about the Jets’ plans for the second overall pick heading into the draft centered on whether they would take David Bailey or Arvell Reese to bolster their defense.
The answer to their edge rusher question finally came on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. The Jets made Bailey their choice shortly after the Raiders made it official with Fernando Mendoza.
Bailey led the nation with 14.5 sacks for Texas Tech during the 2025 season and the Jets’ level of interest in him became a talking point over the last week because the team canceled a visit with him during the pre-draft process. They had other interactions over the last few months, however, and Jets General Manager Darren Mougey obviously saw enough to make Bailey the man.
The Jets also have the No. 16 pick, so they’ll be heard from again on Thursday night.
Jets General Manager Darren Mougey downplayed the team’s decision to cancel a pre-draft visit from edge rusher David Bailey on Tuesday and Bailey did the same on Wednesday.
Mougey didn’t share why the team called off the meeting, but said no one should read much into the cancellation because there are a variety of reasons why teams do or don’t invite a player to the facility for a top-30 visit. Among those reasons is that there are other ways to communicate with a prospect and Bailey cited those while saying he thinks he’s built a strong rapport with the team holding the second overall pick.
“They canceled my 30 visit, so I wasn’t able to get around the facility and kinda have an in-depth conversation with all the staff and everything, but I had a great interaction with them at the Combine and obviously whatever FaceTime calls we’ve been having,” Bailey said, via SNY.
Bailey had 14.5 sacks at Texas Tech last season and joins Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese as the likeliest picks at No. 2 because of the Jets’ need to upgrade their defense. Their choice is the first big question that will be answered on Thursday night and the pick will have ripple effects on the rest of the first round.
With the Raiders widely presumed to be taking Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first pick (it would be an all-time stunner if they don’t), the draft begins at No. 2. And no one knows what the Jets will do.
The most likely choices are Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese and Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey. The pundits have been all over the place; some have cartoonishly contradicted themselves, multiple times.
To no surprise, the betting odds have been flipping back and forth between the two. The favorite was Reese. Then it was Bailey. Then it was Reese. Now, it’s once again Bailey.
Bailey is the safer pick. Reese, to the extent he’d be deployed primarily as a pass rusher, is more of a projection with a possibly higher upside. (Eighteen years ago, the Jets took that path at No. 6 with former Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston. He lasted three seasons, and had 0.0 career sacks.)
It’s a situation that is ripe for inside information being misused, if it’s not properly safeguarded. Assuming the Jets have made a final decision. They have until eight minutes after they’re on the clock tomorrow night to do so.
Whatever they do, that’s when the draft will begin. We know Fernando will be the top pick. Once we know what the Jets will do, the draft will unofficially have begun.
