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Ohio State defender Arvell Reese going through a drill at the OSU Pro Day.
The New York Jets can’t screw this up.
At least, that’s the opinion of Insider Bruce Feldman of The Athletic. In his mock draft that is based on intel from scouts, agents, and coaches, he predicted that the Jets would select Ohio State defender Arvell Reese with the No. 2 overall pick.
“I think this is the surest bet for future stardom in this draft. There’s a handful of other guys with really high ceilings; Reese not only has a sky-high ceiling but an extremely high floor, too. Point blank: Not even the Jets can screw this one up,” Feldman wrote.
“At 6-4 and 241 pounds, Reese (who turns 21 in August) overtook teammate Caleb Downs as the biggest star of the Buckeyes’ terrific defense in 2025. By mid-September, rival Big Ten coaches were raving about Reese’s ability to menace their offensive game plans. He’s rangy. He’s explosive — he ran a 4.46 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine — and he strikes violently on the field with elite knock-back. His stats might not have been eye-popping (69 tackles, 6.5 sacks), but his film is,” Feldman stated.
“They asked him to do a ton, and he’s elite at everything that they asked him to do,” an anonymous Big Ten offensive coach told Feldman. “He’s playing stack linebacker better than the guy who only plays stack linebacker, and then he goes to edge and rushes the passer better than the guys who only have to rush the passer. He’s setting the edge and is just as good as guys who are 40 pounds heavier than him. Then, he’s covering just as well as the nickel, and Caleb Downs are covering.”
Reese Is the Betting Favorite to Become a Jet
DraftKings has released the betting odds for when and where the draft prospects will land. Only two players in the 2026 NFL draft are at minus money.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has -20000 odds to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Ohio State’s Arvell Reese has -230 odds to be the No. 2 overall pick by the Jets. It obviously isn’t as strong as Mendoza, but it’s still strong nonetheless.
Feldman said Reese is the “surest bet” to be a star. Well, he is also the surest bet to be the Jets’ selection with the No. 2 overall pick, according to the oddsmakers.
Bend Gate
The pre-draft process is long. We talk about these players for months before the season, then during the season, and then after the season. Along the way is the NFL Combine, college all-star events, and Pro Days.
During the Pro Day cycle this offseason, NFL draft analyst Ryan Fowler posted a pair of screenshots on X. One was of Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr and one was of Ohio State’s Arvell Reese.
It was captioned, “Rueben Bain. Arvell Reese. Same drill,” Fowler wrote.
Based on just the photos, it appeared to suggest that Bain had more bend than Reese. It went viral with over 3.1 million impressions.
However, it was later debunked by coaches that this was, in fact, not the same drill.
You know we’ve reached crazy season when we are having overarching draft takes based on a screenshot of a random moment in time with zero context.
Reese and his camp clearly heard the noise, though. So, on social media, coach Brandon Jordan, a pass rush specialist, posted a 21-second video captioned, “Arvell Reese Rushing and Bending @arvxll.”
It seemed to be a direct response to the criticism of Reese’s lack of bend.
Paul Esden Jr. covers the New York Jets for Heavy.com. A New York native, he co-hosts a morning show, “The Manchild Show with Boy Green Digital.” Before joining Heavy in 2021, Esden Jr. covered both national and New York sports for FanSided, Elite Sports NY, and The Score 1260. More about Paul Esden Jr.
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