Is this the final straw that solidifies Arvell Reese as the New York Jets’ clear-cut choice with the second overall pick?
An off-ball linebacker in college, Reese is expected to convert to a full-time edge defender in the NFL after showcasing elite potential on a small sample of edge opportunities at Ohio State. The contrast between his seemingly limitless ceiling and the low number of times we saw that ceiling is what makes him one of the most fascinating prospects to project in the 2026 draft class.
This is especially relevant in comparisons against Texas Tech’s David Bailey, a full-time edge player in college.
Will Reese undergo the necessary developments as an edge rusher to reach his NFL ceiling? Or will he be another failed project?
What Reese just revealed to the media should inspire immense confidence that he will ascend rapidly at the NFL level.
Speaking with ESPN’s Benjamin Solak, Reese revealed that he never spent time working on pass rush moves at Ohio State and made up all of his moves on instinct. Yes, you read that right: The Buckeyes didn’t coach one of their outside linebackers on how to rush the passer, a job he had to do over 100 times over the course of the 2025 season.
“I didn’t even have a name for what I just did,” said Reese, reacting to a clip of him winning a rush rep off the edge. “Literally, even when I did this, I didn’t even have a name for what I just did. But now that I’m working on pass rushing right now, and studying and everything, I’m realizing right here, I show power, which made him shoot his hands, and that’s when I threw the cross-chop.
“This is just kind of like, out the blue. Never really did this [in practice], well, I did a couple times in practice, but never really like, perfected this move to just go out and do it.”
Think about it: Reese, at only 20 years old, picked up 6.5 sacks on just 119 pass-rush snaps as a true junior against Big Ten competition… without even practicing pass rush moves.
When it comes to “projection” type prospects, you will rarely, if ever, witness a profile that suggests a higher likelihood of the prospect continuing on a stark upward trajectory. Reese is as young as NFL prospects can get, boasts absurd athletic and physical traits (with room to get even bigger/stronger), and produced at a dominant level of pass-rush efficiency in college without even being coached on it.
With his youth, athletic tools, and the sheer fact that he’s only now being coached on pass rushing for the first time, Reese does not have an NFL ceiling.
Nonetheless, David Bailey overtook Reese on Thursday as the betting favorite to be chosen second overall by New York. But assuming the Jets already know what Reese revealed to Solak, their decision might be a lot more clear-cut than sportsbooks want fans to believe.
