How Texas Tech's David Bailey could fit with the Detroit Lions

Q: When is the 2026 NFL Draft scheduled to take place?

The 2026 NFL Draft is set to begin on April 23, 2026.

Q: What pick do the Detroit Lions have in the 2026 NFL Draft?

The Detroit Lions currently hold the 17th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Q: Who was the last player the Detroit Lions selected in the first round?

The last player the Detroit Lions selected in the first round was running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who was picked No. 12 in 2023.

Draft month, finally, has arrived.

Continuing our recurring series, which began earlier this month and will run until the 2026 NFL Draft begins on April 23, The Detroit News will spotlight one prospect a day who could be a first-round fit for the Detroit Lions, who own the 17th overall pick. Assuming the Lions don't trade out, it'll be their highest selection since running back Jahmyr Gibbs went No. 12 in 2023.

Today's focus will be on Texas Tech edge defender David Bailey.

David Bailey led all FBS players with 73 pressures in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus.

By the numbers

▶ T-first in regular season sacks (14½), first in pressures (73), first in pressure rate (21.3%) across FBS in 2025

▶ Recorded pressure on 19.3% of pass-rush snaps over four college seasons

▶ 4.50-second 40-yard dash

▶ No. 3 consensus ranking (NFL Mock Draft Database)

Career overview

Bailey, 22, was a four-star recruit coming out of Mater Dei High School, where he just missed out on the opportunity to play with Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But he did win a state championship on a team that went wire-to-wire as MaxPreps’ No. 1 team in the country in his senior year, and he would end up establishing a Detroit connection through his college recruitment by committing to current Lions pass-game specialist David Shaw, who was the head coach at Stanford when Bailey stepped on campus in 2022.

As a true freshman, Bailey started nine of 11 games for Stanford and tallied 46 tackles, 8½ tackles-for-loss with 2½ sacks on 28 pressures en route to being named the team’s top freshman. After Shaw and Stanford parted ways, Bailey improved his sack numbers (five) and led the team in tackles-for-loss (six) during his sophomore season before truly beginning his ascent as a junior.

In 2024, Bailey had a whopping five forced fumbles with eight sacks and 39 pressures and had the highest Pro Football Focus pass-rushing grade in the nation (93.2, min. 20% of snaps), a feat he’d reclaim the following year in a bigger role. He graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in STS: Science, Technology and Society and enrolled at Texas Tech, where he became one of the scariest pass rushers in the nation.

Once becoming a full-time starter, Bailey set career-highs in sacks (14½, tied for first in the country), tackles-for-loss (19½) and tackles (52) and was named a unanimous All-American and Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year as Tech won its conference for the first time since 1994 and made a College Football Playoff appearance; Tech lost the Orange Bowl to Oregon, 23-0, but Bailey finished his college career with four pressures, a sack and two tackles-for-loss in the defeat.

“Of course, you could say I’m biased, but I also look at the production. I’ve seen all the guys that maybe could go No. 2 (in the draft) over him, and their production is nowhere close to David Bailey’s,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said last month, referring to players like Arvell Reese (Ohio State) and Rueben Bain (Miami). “And it’s hard to say they have more potential than David Bailey. This is the first year he truly played defensive end and wasn’t dropping into coverage and stuff like that.

Added McGuire, “He’s put it on tape, and he’s done it at a higher level than anybody else in this draft.”

Analysis

Bailey’s combination of explosiveness and production has given him a decent shot at being the first defensive player taken in the draft. His burst off the line of scrimmage immediately puts him into the backfield, allowing him to make game-changing plays for the defense. As The Athletic’s Dane Brugler writes, “Bailey fires off the ball like a sprinter, with stride length and hell-raising intentions to quickly build forceful momentum to the quarterback.”

Detroit has been pretty insistent on deploying edge-setting, pocket-crushing defensive ends as the starters opposite of Hutchinson. While Bailey (6-foot-4, 251 pounds) is extremely capable of using his speed to get off the ball and make a splash play in the ground game, he might not possess the anchor to compete down-in, down-out in the way Detroit wants against the run. In his NFL.com profile, an AFC executive says he worries about Bailey’s “size and toughness.”

“If you are taking him high, you need him to play on all three downs,” the scout adds.

Even if Bailey isn’t the well-rounded defensive end Detroit typically wants, he might be the pass-rushing hero it needs right now. The Lions ranked 30th in time to pressure (2.86 seconds) last season, even with a mostly healthy front seven. Bailey can win rushes before the quarterback has his fingers on the laces, a terrifying trait for opposing offenses that would have to see him lined up across from Hutchinson, who helped the speedy Al-Quadin Muhammad to a career year (11 sacks) with the attention that he commanded on passing downs.

Unlike some defensive ends who are clearly more advanced as pass rushers, Bailey is not a lost cause against the run. There’s simply a concern about whether he’s physically capable of doing so consistently at the next level, and whether his play style meshes with what the Lions are hoping to get from the position.

“Against the run, he plays with effort and range from the back side but needs to improve his consistency and physicality when holding the point of attack,” NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah writes. “Overall, Bailey has areas to address, but his ability to create short corners to the passer is exceptional.”

The consensus rankings say Bailey has a high chance of going in the top five, and maybe even as high as No. 2 to the New York Jets. But the lack of true blue-chip players in the class provides serious potential for the draft to go haywire at the top, so while the idea Bailey could fall to the Lions at No. 17 might be a little rich, we can see some scenarios where he falls out of the top 10 and into striking range for a trade-up by Detroit, if that’s a player general manager Brad Holmes is enamored with.