Cardinals Meeting With Top NFL Draft EDGE

The Cowboys and Cardinals appear to be discussing a trade which would allow Dallas to make a move up to No. 3 and take Bailey - you can read more about that here.

Bailey is considered to be one of the top edge rushers in this class alongside Miami's Rueben Bain Jr. and Ohio State's Arvell Reese. Arizona has met with all three this offseason.

The Cardinals have three weeks until the 2026 NFL Draft, where they own all seven picks but are highly expected to address edge rusher early in the weekend.

Bailey was a highly productive edge rusher at both Stanford and Texas Tech, this past year netting a college football high 14.5 sacks with the Red Raiders. His athleticism explodes off the tape but is considered somewhat undersized and not perfect against the run game.

However, you're not drafting Bailey to stop running backs on wide zone schemes. You're drafting him to get after the quarterback — often — and that's just not something the Cardinals were able to do enough of last season.

Bailey was recently described by opposing college coaches as "different" and "special" and when you pop on the tape, it's easy to see why Bailey's mix of athleticism and production has cemented his status as a top pick.

While Sweat's 12 sacks were a career high, the rest of the room was relatively dissapointing in terms of sack production. Calais Campbell (currently a free agent) was second on the team with 6.5 while Baron Browning, Zaven Collins and Jordan Burch all combined for 4.5 sacks last season.

As a team, the Cardinals were fourth-worst in the NFL last season in terms of team sacks and pressure rate.

With defensive coordinator Nick Rallis returning for a fourth season, upgrading the spot feels more mandatory than optional at this point in time, especially with the Cardinals not adding any prominent help in free agency.

Bailey feels like he could immediately slot into Arizona's defense as a starting edge rusher and immediately give a struggling Cardinals pass rush a juice.