David Bailey Bucs Draft Scouting Report

College Career

David Bailey started his freshman year at Stanford, playing in 10 games. He remained with the Cardinal through his junior year, racking up 14.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss over 32 games before transferring to Texas Tech in 2025 for his senior year. In 2025, he led the Big XII with 19.5 tackles for loss and led the entire FBS with 14.5 sacks leading to him earning an All-American honor.

With 29 career sacks and 42 career tackles for loss, he has been a big play machine during his college years.

Starting with Bailey, I am also going to include radar charts with specific metrics I look for as part of my scouting reports. This encompasses what percentile he ranked in for these markers.

What’s really interesting is that while he doesn’t have a high tackle rate, when he does pull down an opponent it almost always goes for a negative EPA play.

Measurables

Per Pro Football Focus:

Height – 6-3

Weight – 250 pounds

David Bailey Scouting Report

Games Watched: Oklahoma State (2025), Kansas (2025), Oregon (2025)

Athleticism

Bailey has a lean frame with loose joints giving him plenty of flexibility to contort himself as needed when scrapping around the line of scrimmage and allows him to change direction with ease. He has a strong lower half giving him plenty of explosivity and a deadly first step. You also see it on display as he effectively uses his vertical jump to bat passes down at the line of scrimmage.

His speed continues from short areas to open space as he can chase plays like an off-ball linebacker. And his footwork is elite with quick, but powerful steps that keep him balanced for two-way go’s while still threatening vertically to collapse the pocket. All of these traits play up due to Bailey’s high motor.

Pass Rushing

Bailey has a great first step to launch him into his arc and can cause panic from opposing blockers. That panic in response to his short-area quickness opens space inside for him to exploit on a regular basis. He converts speed to power quickly and can bully tight ends left out on an island with him. What’s truly impressive is how Bailey can access his speed at any point in the rep, helping him to modulate his rushes throughout the game and preventing blockers from learning his timing. This makes him even more dangerous in crucial late-game situations.

Bailey displays great bend, keeping his balance as he dips his shoulder to win the corner without sacrificing any speed. That balance also lets him fade outside moves before attacking inside with authority.

There is a conviction in his movements that is refreshing. Bailey commits to being a bully and it comes easy for him because he causes tackles to open their chest often. His closing speed is just as impressive as his opening step, maintaining speed throughout the arc. Once he gets into the chest of his opponent, he is quick to lock out his arms and dictate engagement from there.

Bailey uses an inside spin that is tight and controlled, reducing surface area and leaving tackles grasping for air. He builds off that move later when he slows to flash it before continuing to attack the arc after getting the tackle to slow his feet. It’s a smart way of using a pass rush plan throughout the game.

All of this helped Bailey finish in the 99th percentile in pressure rate, and 95th percentile in pass rush win rate.

For his game to translate at the next level he is going to have to improve his hand fighting and develop more power in his rip move to clear blockers as he wins the edge.

Run Fitting

Bailey uses his hands well to keep tackles from latching on and controlling his frame. His lean frame leads to him struggling to anchor and hold the point of attack when teams try to run at him. This is especially evident when Bailey gets tagged on double teams where he can get driven back quite easily. Bailey is willing to drop his shoulder and absorb pullers and when he sees it coming, he can win the leverage game to hold position. When defending against wide zone he tries to lock his arm out to keep blockers off his frame, but that won’t play as well against longer linemen in the NFL.

He uses his eyes well, keeping them in the backfield so he can keep tabs on where the play is headed. This is especially useful against RPOs and play-action. Bailey’s best trait defending the run is his slipperiness, sliding into gaps and using an arm-over to get free behind the line of scrimmage. This is evident in his 88th percentile tackle for loss rate and 98th percentile stop rate in 2025.

Coverage

Fluidity in his movements let him drop seamlessly into short underneath zones and he can mirror tight ends crossing on shallow over the ball routes. He played off the ball at Stanford as an underclassman, and you can see that experience in his drops and understanding of his place in space.

Best Traits

Burst/Explosiveness

Finishing sacks

How He Fits The Bucs And Best Role

David Bailey has all of the physical tools to excel as an outside linebacker in Todd Bowles’ heavy-pressure defense. His fluidity and bend would provide a strong compliment to Yaya Diaby’s pocket-denting power skillset.

Bailey’s ability to move in space and athleticism allow him to execute as a dropper for the sim/pressure games that Bowles employs as a part of his scheme.

The concerns about his ability to fit the run and static strength are reasonable and keep him from being a perfect prospect, but the impact potential he has should overcome those concerns.

Hear David Bailey Talk

NFL Draft evaluations are as much about the person as the player. Teams want to understand the person as much as the player. How do they think? How do they interpret the game? Who are they as someone who must integrate into a locker room? We can’t see nearly as much of this as teams do in their in-person interviews, but this year I want to help all of us hear more from the players that we evaluate.

With that in mind hear is a media availability session had towards the end of the 2025 season where he spoke about his senior year, the difference in schemes between Stanford and Texas Tech and a bit about his versatility as a player.

Bailey comes off very intentional and detailed in his responses. He oozes just as much confidence at the podium as he does on the field. I’m confident he will win over coaching staffs in the interview room.

With that said he will likely have to answer questions regarding a couple of incidents during his time in college. The first is an alleged assault of a photographer after the Texas Tech-Arizona State game in 2025. The second is dating back to his days at Stanford when he was ejected from a game for stomping on an opponent.

Much is made about the Bucs’ vision for the man that makes the player and how it plays into their overall evaluations. These incidents will certainly be a part of their interview with Bailey should they opt to talk to him.