Mike LaFleur Arizona Cardinals
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A new mock draft from The Athletic has the Arizona Cardinals selecting David Bailey, an edge rusher from Texas Tech in the first round of the NFL Draft.
The NFL Draft is less than three weeks away, and mock drafts are flying around the football world. That includes a recent three-round mock draft from The Athletic, which has the Arizona Cardinals addressing their need at edge rusher with the third overall pick.
Nick Baumgardner, who put this mock draft together for The Athletic, has Arizona selecting David Bailey. An edge rusher who played for Stanford and Texas Tech in his college career, the move would hopefully give the Cardinals an elite edge rusher for years to come.
“The Cardinals could do just about anything here (including taking an offensive tackle or Sonny Styles),” Baumgardner wrote. “But it’s pretty impossible to ignore everything Bailey puts on the table as a twitched-up, savvy and productive edge rusher. His bag of tricks is deep, and he could produce a bunch of sacks sooner rather than later.”
Who is Potential Arizona Cardinals Pick David Bailey?
David Bailey Texas Tech
GettyTexas Tech edge rusher David Bailey
Coming off a season in 2025 that saw David Bailey transfer to Texas Tech and become both the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year and a unanimous All-American, the 22-year-old decided to make the jump to the NFL. He’s quickly become one of the most hotly anticipated pass rushers available. Mel Kiper has him ranked fifth overall on his latest big board, though he is the second-ranked outside linebacker on that same list, just behind Arvell Reese of Ohio State.
Bailey played three seasons at Stanford, improving in each of those years. He became a major Transfer Portal target after that, landing with Texas Tech. There, he’d put up 14.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for a loss in 2025. That was on 52 total tackles.
At the NFL Combine, Bailey measured in at 6’ 4’’ and 251 lbs. He would run a 4.5 40-yard dash and a 1.62 10-yard split in an impressive showing athletically there.
Known as more of a finesse edge rusher, Bailey is extremely fast and can collapse a pocket quickly. That’s going to make him an excellent pass rush threat, but it’s also going to mean he has work to do against the run.
Later Picks for the Arizona Cardinals in the Mock Draft
Garrett Nussmeier LSU
GettyLSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier
The mock draft from The Athletic is a three-round mock draft. So, while David Bailey is going to be the headline of it for the Cardinals, there are some other interesting players to take a look at.
In the second round, this mock draft has Arizona returning to the edge rusher slot. There, the Cardinals are slated to pick Malachi Lawrence from UCF. Lawrence played four seasons at UCF and is coming off a year where he had some impressive numbers in his own right, putting up 7.0 sacks and 11.0 tackles for a loss.
Moving into the third round, this mock draft has Arizona finally addressing the quarterback position. Garrett Nussmeier is a veteran quarterback from LSU who went into 2025 hoping to impress scouts enough that he could become a high first-round pick. That didn’t end up happening as he battled through injuries and struggled with his consistency. Still, the raw talent is there, and given time to develop, he could become an interesting quarterback for the Cardinals.
For the time being, this type of mock draft remains a good outlook on what could be coming in a few weeks at the NFL Draft. Of course, once the draft begins, there’s no telling what will really happen and what moves come down.