Welcome back to another year of the SB Nation Community Mock Draft!
NFL mock draft 2026: Cardinals select David Bailey, Edge Rusher, Texas Tech
The Cardinals grab one of the top pass rushers in the draft with the third overall pick.
As we do every draft season, all 32 NFL sites at SB Nation come together to fill out an entire first-round mock draft leading up to the actual event that takes place from April 23-25. One by one, our site managers will make their picks and provide their reasoning behind the selection. From there, I will provide further analysis on top of giving a final opinion on the pick!
Without further ado, let’s get’s things rolling!
With the third overall pick in the 2026 SB Nation Community Mock Draft, Revenge of the Birds’ Seth Cox and the Arizona Cardinals select David Bailey, edge rusher, Texas Tech!
Cox’s analysis:
NFL
SB Nation NFL Mock Draft: With the 3rd pick the Arizona Cardinals select…
Texas Texh Edge Davis Bailey
The Arizona Cardinals wanted to try and make a move down the draft board and make the value fit at offensive tackle, but there were no takers, so instead they sit and pick the dynamic pass rusher from Texas Tech. Bailey will help a porous Cardinals pass rush that only saw Josh Sweat really create any type of pressures/sacks and give the Cardinals a young protégé at the position to learn from Sweat and eventually take over as the alpha rusher on the team.
Rec 5ReplyRead 14 replies
My analysis: After the Jets chose to roll the dice a bit on Reese with the second overall pick, the Cardinals pivot to the draft’s next best pass rusher in Bailey. I like that Cox tried to trade back to gather more picks and look for one of the top tackles in the class, too. Their next quarterback could use a new protector. However, if they can’t reinforce the offense this high, you may as well spend the third pick on one of the most impactful defenders in the class to dramatically buff the other side of the ball.
I love the process here and although Plan A did not work out, Plan B still ended with a very strong pick and a heck of a player.
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