Jets 23-year-old rookie David Bailey is atypical of his fellow Generation Z members: He doesn’t live on social media.
The 2025 unanimous All-American for Texas Tech is a native of Orange, California, 35 miles from Los Angeles, and started his college journey at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, ironically in Silicon Valley, the hub of technology and social media in this country.
That didn’t compel Bailey to scroll videos and other content both praising and criticizing his play. That mindset has persisted since early in his professional career.
After being selected by the Jets as the second overall pick in last April’s NFL Draft, Bailey came to a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010 with expectations from a parched fans base that he would immediately produce as a pillar of a rebuild.
Entering Sunday’s game at MetLife Stadium versus the Cleveland Browns, Bailey had not consumed social media or sports talk, where there were discussions and debates about whether the Jets made the right choice. He answered emphatically with the Jets’ eight sacks, seven tackles, three tackles for loss, nine pressures, and four quarterback hits on the Browns’ Deshaun Watson in a much-needed 17-12 Jets win.
Bailey was the difference maker Jets general manager Darren Mougey and head coachAaron Glenn foresaw when they invested steep draft capital in him. He was central to the team improving to 2-3 and averting a disastrous and anxiety-triggering 1-4 start. Panic would have overtaken saturated social media and sports talk — but Bailey wouldn’t have known.
“I’m not really on social media, so I can’t really speak on what was said. All that I feel like matters is what my coaches are telling, what my teammates are telling me,” Bailey said after the game.
The win won’t define Bailey or the Jets — there are still 12 games remaining in the regular season — but it portends their individual capacity and capability.
“It’s the same thing you saw from him coming out of college,” Glenn noted in deconstructing Bailey’s skills. “His ability to bend the edge, his ability to dip, lean, use power in that lean, and be able to rip up and be able to go make plays on the quarterback. His ability to make a move and then rush with power.”
Oh, and his prudence and discipline to refrain from being preoccupied with the masses’ perspective of him — focusing solely on being a bedrock of a franchise in need of consistent stability and not allowing external forces to alter his attitude.
The Jets will face the 3-2 New England Patriots this Sunday (1:00 p.m.) on the road.
