{"id":17532,"date":"2026-04-09T10:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/?p=17532"},"modified":"2026-04-09T10:53:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:53:27","slug":"2026-nfl-draft-preview-front-seven-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/2026-nfl-draft-preview-front-seven-edge","title":{"rendered":"2026 NFL Draft Preview: The Arvell Reese vs. David Bailey Debate Leads a Strong Front Seven Class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We finished the offensive players in our 2026 NFL<\/a> Draft previews by looking at the offensive line<\/a> on Tuesday. Now we\u2019re switching to the defensive side of the ball, starting with a class of front seven players led by Arvell Reese<\/a> (Ohio State) and David Bailey<\/a> (Texas Tech).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between quarterback and wide receivers, you have pass rushers making some of the best money of any NFL player these days when they\u2019re a successful star like Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Maxx Crosby, Aidan Hutchinson, Nick Bosa, and Micah Parsons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look at the top defensive players by average salary<\/a>, the top seven, who are all making at least $34M annually, are all edge rushers. That\u2019s a premiere position, and that\u2019s really the only defensive position that we\u2019re experiencing a golden age for right now as the linebackers, corners, and safeties aren\u2019t nearly as strong as past eras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2026 NFL Draft will only look to widen that gap as edge rusher is considered maybe the deepest and most talented position group this year. Off-ball linebackers are also getting good praise from this draft cycle, but we\u2019ll see how many end up being hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since there aren\u2019t many off-ball linebackers and defensive tackles ranked highly in this class, and with the minimal distinction between edge and outside linebacker these days, we\u2019re just going to group together the best front seven players (defensive ends, defensive tackles, linebackers, edge) below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the prospect rankings from NFL Mock Draft Database<\/a>, we are going to look at the top nine front seven prospects who are ranked in the top 32 picks (high potential for first round).<\/strong> We\u2019ll look at how their skills might translate to the NFL, and which team would be the best landing spot for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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