Brian Costello Compares Jets Rookie David Bailey to Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson
David Bailey is two weeks into his first NFL training camp, and the comparisons are already rolling in. The Jets’ rookie edge rusher, taken second overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, has reporters and teammates reaching for names like Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson to describe what they’re seeing out of him.
New York Post columnist Brian Costello isn’t in the habit of hyping rookies. He said as much himself this week on the New York Post’s “Gang’s All Here” show, and then did it anyway.
“Bailey’s the real deal. I think you guys have done this long enough with me now that I don’t throw praise around that easily, especially with rookies,” Costello said. “There are some guys you see, and they’re different. The guy who I’ll always remember is Sheldon Richardson. You saw him, and he was different. Jamal Adams was different right away. Sauce (Gardner) and Garrett (Wilson) were different. There are guys who come in as rookies, and you see it, like, ‘Yeah, this guy.’ I put Bailey in that category.”
New York Post Sports posted video of the segment on X: “Bailey’s the real deal!” @Briancoz has high praise for the Jets rookie on Gang’s All Here.
"Bailey's the real deal!"@Briancoz has high praise for the Jets rookie on Gang's All Here. pic.twitter.com/QqopGm1VHt
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) August 6, 2026
Costello went further, breaking down what specifically stands out about Bailey’s game.
“If you were an alien dropped on the field, and you’re picking the best players, you’d pick him because he’s just explosive, he’s got a lot of moves, and he’s got more power than I thought,” Costello added.
Bailey’s teammates are noticing too
Costello isn’t alone. According to ClutchPoints, Jets edge rusher Will McDonald IV — the team’s 2023 first-round pick and reigning sack leader — has been impressed by Bailey’s defensive instincts through camp. The two now form the foundation of a Jets pass rush that finished 2025 ranked 31st in the league with just 26 total sacks.
Bailey arrived with the resume to match the hype. He set a career high with 14.5 sacks in his lone season at Texas Tech after transferring from Stanford, earned unanimous All-America honors, and was named Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year. The Jets signed him to a four-year, $54.6 million rookie contract in May.
Why the Gardner and Wilson comparison carries weight
Costello’s reference points aren’t random. Gardner won Defensive Rookie of the Year with the Jets in 2022 before being traded to the Indianapolis Colts in November 2025. Wilson won Offensive Rookie of the Year that same season and remains with New York entering his fifth year. Pairing Bailey’s name with theirs, even informally, sets an early bar — one the Jets are not publicly asking him to clear just yet. As ClutchPoints reported, Bailey isn’t being framed internally as a singular savior for the Jets defense, even as his camp performances draw attention.
That framing matters. Rookie pass rushers, even elite ones, rarely dominate immediately at the NFL level. Bailey will face NFL-caliber tackles for the first time in padded practices and preseason games, and the technique gaps that didn’t show up against college competition tend to surface fast. The Jets’ coaching staff has generally treated his early camp buzz as a starting point, not a finished product.
What comes next
Bailey gets his first look in Jets colors against outside competition when New York opens its preseason slate at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Friday, August 14, at MetLife Stadium. It won’t settle anything on its own, but it will be the first checkpoint against a level of competition camp reps can’t fully simulate.
