Jets' David Bailey delivers first NFL statement game with three-sack performance against Browns

Rookie edge rusher David Bailey's NFL breakthrough came in a game that the Jets needed.

The 2026 NFL Draft's No. 2 overall pick was a force in Sunday's 17-12 win over the Browns, totaling three sacks and disrupting Cleveland (3-2) while New York (2-3) snapped a three-game skid.

"It felt good, man," Bailey said. "It felt good to know that I'm able to do this, to compete at the highest level and I'm just proud of my D-line. I'm proud of the defense as a whole, coming together, working on the things that we said that we were going to work on."

The 6-foot-3, 251-pounder from Texas Tech entered Week 5 with two sacks in four games but was quiet during last Sunday's 23-12 loss at the Chicago Bears.

"I'm not really on social media, so I can really speak on what was said," Bailey said. "... All that I feel like matters is what my coaches are telling me and what my teammates are telling me, so that's kind of what I'm focused on right now."

And what are his coaching telling him?

"Listen, I've said all along that his time is going to come," said Jets coach Aaron Glenn. "Have all the confidence in him in the world, and he did a good job today. He did a good job. There's some things that he's got to work on. But for him to come out and get ... three sacks, I mean, that was -- that's who David is. We expected that."

Led by Bailey, New York sacked Deshaun Watson eight times for 53 yards.

"It's a team effort," Bailey said. "All the work that we put in throughout the week -- we got together and sat down and made a list of things that we needed to work on, as a whole and individually, and just felt good to know that we took care of that in the game."

With a strong foundation and room for improvement, Bailey takes his first big game into next Sunday's 1 p.m. kickoff against the New England Patriots.

"It's just honing in on what I have wanted to work on this week and just kind of relying on my coaching," he said. "Whatever me and (defensive line coaches) coach (Karl) Dunbar and coach Cam (Davis) had got together and drew a picture of what I could do better, how I could elevate my game and just kind of relying on that."