{"id":735671,"date":"2026-02-07T13:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/735671\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T13:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:18:12","slug":"washington-commanders-land-david-bailey-in-analytics-based-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/735671\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Commanders land David Bailey in analytics-based mock draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 7, 2026, 5:33 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

We are well over two months away from the 2026 NFL Draft, and there is only one thing almost everyone agrees on: the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> will select Indiana<\/a> quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick. Another near certainty is that the Washington Commanders<\/a> will take a defensive player with the No. 7 overall pick.<\/p>\n

While Washington has needs on offense, primarily a starting wide receiver, a running back and a receiving tight end, the early focus will likely be on defense, where the Commanders<\/a> need several starters. Washington’s most significant need is a dominant edge rusher. Most mock drafts project the top two edge defenders, Texas Tech’s David Bailey and Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr., to Washington.<\/p>\n

There is speculation that the Tennessee Titans<\/a> will not pass up Bailey<\/a> at No. 4 overall.<\/p>\n

In a new mock draft for NFL.com, analytics expert Cynthia Frelund unveiled her first mock draft<\/a> of 2026. Frelund has the Titans passing on Bailey at No. 4, instead selecting Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano. That left Bailey on the board for the Commanders at No. 7.<\/p>\n

Dan Quinn is a defensive-minded head coach and pairing him with Bailey is a win-win for both parties in terms of coaching and raw-skills fit.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Commanders want to land an edge rusher who can also set the edge and defend the run. Bain is a better run defender than Bailey, but is not at his level as a pure pass rusher. No one is close to Bailey as an impact rusher in this draft class. A high-level pass rusher would go a long way in improving the Commanders’ woeful defense.<\/p>\n

Washington will likely add an edge player in free agency, too, to pair with Dorance Armstrong. If Frelund’s mock draft holds true, that would be excellent news for the Commanders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 5:33 a.m. ET We are well over two months away from the 2026 NFL Draft,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[95878,427,7,6,95993,95994,97116,95882,95930,96007,98165,98164,95885,95896,95888,96683,95895,95906,95883,95889,96006,95881,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-735671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-commanders","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sstssportsnflcommanders","13":"tag-sstsncommanders","14":"tag-tag2026-nfl-draft","15":"tag-tagamerican-football","16":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","17":"tag-tagdorance-armstrong","18":"tag-tagindiana-hoosiers","19":"tag-tagindiana-hoosiers-football","20":"tag-taglas-vegas-raiders","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-draft","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-tagtennessee-titans","28":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","29":"tag-typestory","30":"tag-washington","31":"tag-washington-commanders","32":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}