🏈 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Best Bets: Top 2026 DROY Contenders After Round 1

The top of the 2026 NFL Draft is not short on defensive talent, which is why the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year odds opened with six different players holding better than a 9% probability of winning the award. 

Although the New York Jets' No. 2 pick, David Bailey, the first defender off the board, opened as the favorite at +470, he's a far cry from a sure thing in a DROY race that includes five other players selected in the top 15 picks.

Recent DROY history suggests Bailey and two other top six picks are the most likely to win the award, and that trio is the focus of my NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year best bets.

📊 2026 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year odds

2026 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year odds via our best sports betting sites.

🎯 The DROY resume: Trends to target

Looking at the last decade of NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year winners, I've identified several trends to help narrow down who the best bets are to win the award for the 2026-27 season.

• Pass rushers have won DROY six times in the last 10 years - four of them were top three picks
• Cornerbacks have won DROY twice in the last 10 years
• Off-ball linebackers have won DROY twice in the last 10 years
• No defensive tackle or safety has won DROY in the last decade
• Every DROY winner over the last decade was selected in the top 36 picks of the draft, with eight of them selected in the first round, and seven of those eight being in the first 12 picks
• Both off-ball linebackers to win DROY (Darius "Shaquille" Leonard and Carson Schwesinger) were selected within the first four picks of the second round

When applying these trends with the context of the 2026 NFL Draft class, three rookies jump out as the best NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year bets.

💰 DROY best bets for 2026

David Bailey, EDGE, Jets (+470)

• Prospect profile: 6'4" | 251 lbs | 22 years old | RAS: 9.65
• 2025 college stats: 52 tackles, 19.5 TFLs, 14.5 sacks
• Pro comparison: Nik Bonitto

While it's hard to believe the Jets passed on Arvell Reese, the consensus No. 1 player in the draft, you can understand why GM Darren Mougey and head coach Aaron Glenn would favor Bailey. He's the most pro-ready pass rusher in the class, possessing rare twitch, an explosive get off, and a scary ability to cover speed-to-power.

Bailey's production at Texas Tech was off the charts in 2025. In his lone season with the Red Raiders, he produced the second-most pressures in the country (81) and ranked top 15 nationally in pass rush win rate (21.6%). Even with warts in his run defense and a need to improve his pass-rush plan, Bailey's burst off the line should help him make an impact early.

He's a strong candidate to lead all rookies in sacks, both due to his combo of athleticism and heavy hands, and the sheer volume of snaps he's expected to play. The six rookies to win DROY over the last 10 years averaged a combined 8.5 sacks as rookies. Bailey could approach that number.

➡️ David Bailey prospect profile & scouting report

Arvell Reese, EDGE/LB, Giants (+700)

• Prospect profile: 6'4" | 241 lbs | 20 years old | RAS: N/A
• 2025 college stats: 69 tackles, 10 TFLs, 6.5 sacks
• Pro comparison: More raw Micah Parsons/smaller Willie McGinest

While Reese slid further than anyone expected, the New York Giants landed the prospect with arguably the highest ceiling in the class at No. 5. Reese's fit on John Harbaugh's team is interesting. The Giants already have Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, and Kayvon Thibodeaux as edge rushers, and it sounds as if Reese will be playing more of a hybrid role, as he did at Ohio State.

That shouldn't hurt his DROY case, though, and playing alongside a Pro Bowler in Burns and two recent top-five picks in Carter and Thibodeaux may mean advantageous pass-rush opportunities for Reese, either as a blitzer or as a true edge rusher. With rare movement skills and a violent style of play, Reese is an ascending player just scratching the surface of his abilities.

Like Micah Parsons at Penn State, Reese flashed an All-Pro ceiling when he rushed the passer in college (he averaged 0.23 pressures per pass rush, better than Bailey's 0.21). And with his ability to be an impact run defender, the All-American will be on the field early and often.

➡️ Arvell Reese prospect profile & scouting report

Mansoor Delane, CB, Chiefs (+850)

• Prospect profile: 6'0" | 187 lbs | 22 years old | RAS: N/A
• 2025 college stats: 45 tackles, 11 PBUs, 2 INTs
• Pro comparison: Marshon Lattimore

Two cornerbacks have won DROY in the last decade, and like Mansoor Delane, both were the first cornerbacks off the board in their draft classes. With Delane being the unquestioned top cornerback in this year's draft, and the Kansas City Chiefs moving up for him, he will have plenty of attention early as a rookie.

Narrative can be important to NFL awards, and Delane stepping into the top corner role on a team that expects to win Super Bowls should only help his case for DROY if he lives up to his draft slot. A sticky press-man corner who didn't allow a TD in 2025, Delane's a technician on the outside with the footwork to mirror and match receivers, and the cover instincts to locate the ball in phase and make a play.

And those ball skills will be important if he's going to beat out the pass rushers for DROY. When Marshon Lattimore took home the award, he had five interceptions and 18 passes defensed, while Sauce Gardner put up two interceptions and 20 passes defensed when he won.

🧩 Who else fits the mold of DROY in 2026?

Round 2 LBs: Jacob Rodriguez, CJ Allen, etc.

The only time non-first-round picks win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year is when a second-round linebacker is a force immediately and becomes a tackling machine. Last season, Schwesinger was sixth in the league in tackles (156) on his way to winning DROY. And in 2018, when Leonard won, he led the league in tackles (163).

This is a loaded class of Day 2 linebackers and in the right landing spot one of them could potentially push to win DROY. The top candidates are Jacob Rodriguez, who was a ball magnet at Texas Tech and finished fifth in Heisman voting, and CJ Allen, who's a high IQ run defender that led Georgia's defense the last two years. 

Other Day 2 linebackers who could make some noise are Josiah Trotter, Kyle Louis, Anthony Hill Jr., and Jake Golday.

🔍 Final verdict: Where is the value?

Arvell Reese to win DROY (+700)

While Reese doesn't have a clearly defined role the way that Bailey does, he enters a better situation with Harbaugh leading the charge for the Giants.

With a stable coaching staff and a defensive coordinator in Dennard Wilson, who will likely have a plan for deploying him, Reese can be a defensive chess piece: spying QBs, blitzing from the second level, and even playing in the edge rotation. 

One of the youngest players in the draft class, Reese's potential is through the roof in the right system, and with New York taking him No. 5, despite drafting Carter last year, it implies they know exactly how they want to use the freakish Ohio State star.

Reese shouldn't be priced longer than Bailey and Rueben Bain Jr. at our best NFL betting sites, making him the best value on the board.