Armand Membou is at the stage of his second NFL season where offseason projection starts turning into real practice evidence, and the New York Jets’ first padded session of training camp gave the right tackle a genuine measuring stick. Membou spent this week’s early camp reps working against edge rusher David Bailey, and the reports that came out of those reps were specific enough to matter. None of it proves a breakout is here. It does move Membou’s Year 2 development from projection toward observable evidence, and that distinction matters for how far Geno Smith and Frank Reich can push the Jets offense in 2026.
What changed when the pads went on
August 3 was the first padded practice of the Jets’ 2026 training camp, and it was held in rain. As JetCast’s Day 4 coverage recorded, the defense won the overall session that day. That context matters before drawing conclusions from any single rep: pads changed the physicality of practice, but the conditions do not explain what happened between two specific players lining up across from each other.
What did happen was Membou taking real reps against Bailey in one-on-one pass rush drills, the kind of setting where a lineman’s technique and get-off show up clearly. It was one practice, in the rain, not a trend line. Treated that way, it is useful evidence rather than a verdict.
The David Bailey matchup is useful evidence
This was not the first time Membou and Bailey lined up against each other this camp. JetCast’s Day 3 coverage tracked Membou answering an earlier surge from Bailey, which is part of why August 3 carried weight. ESPN’s Rich Cimini watched the padded one-on-ones and posted that Membou neutralizes Bailey on one rep, a specific, limited observation worth taking at face value: one rep, not a full-practice verdict.
Zack Rosenblatt went further, writing that Armand Membou dominated his reps against David Bailey and Will McDonald. That is Rosenblatt’s read of the specific reps he watched, not an objective grade on the entire practice, and it should not be read as Membou shutting down either rusher for the whole day. The Jets’ own account also posted video of Membou discussing his reps against Bailey after practice. No transcript of that video is available here, so nothing beyond the fact that the conversation happened is being reported from it.
Aaron Glenn is raising the standard
Aaron Glenn has been vocal about what he expects from Membou entering Year 2. In comments shared by the Jets’ official account, Glenn said he expects a lot from Membou because of how the tackle has been operating, and that after the exit meeting Glenn believed Membou would come back ready. That is a coach raising the bar publicly, not a guarantee of what comes next.
Glenn also framed the Bailey matchup itself as useful, not just for Membou. Nick Faria reported that Glenn described Membou and Bailey as two elite athletes who are strong, want to improve, and benefit from competing against each other, treating the pairing as a development tool for both players rather than a one-sided story. Separately, Faria’s own analysis argued Membou is staking a new claim as the best player on the Jets. That is Faria’s analysis, not a team declaration or an established fact, and it is a claim worth testing against more practices before anyone adopts it.
Why Membou still matters to the Jets offense
Officially, Membou is listed at No. 70, OT, on the Jets’ current roster at 6 foot 4 and 332 pounds, entering his second NFL season out of Missouri. He is the second-year right tackle, nothing more specific than that on the depth chart. What makes his development worth tracking is what right tackle stability does for the rest of the operation.
A dependable right tackle gives an offense more flexibility. It changes how much freedom a coaching staff has in what it asks of Geno Smith up front, and it connects to the bigger picture of how the Jets are building their 53 man roster around the offensive line. None of that requires Membou to be a star. It requires him to be consistently good, which is a lower bar and a more realistic one for a second-year player.
What Membou still has to prove
On the field, the standard is straightforward: Membou has not become the best player on the Jets, and he has not proved a breakout is guaranteed. What he has done is put together one practice, with specific reps against a real opponent, that reporters on site described in positive and specific terms. Cimini’s read stayed to a single rep. Rosenblatt’s read covered a broader set of reps but stopped short of calling it a full-practice shutdown. Those are two different levels of confidence from two different observers, and both are worth more than a generic recap because they are specific about what they saw and what they did not.
The next step is stacking more of those practices together, against different rushers, in different conditions, before anyone treats one padded session as proof of anything larger. A second-year lineman who wins reps in the rain against a real pass rusher is building a record. It is not yet a finished evaluation.
The bottom line
Nothing from August 3 turns Armand Membou into a finished product or locks in a leap. What it does is give JetCast and Jets fans something more concrete than offseason projection: real reps against a real pass rusher, described specifically by multiple credible observers, framed by a head coach who is publicly raising his expectations. That is evidence, not a verdict. If Membou keeps stacking practices like this one, the case for a genuine Year 2 jump gets stronger, and the right tackle spot could become less of a question mark for Geno Smith and Frank Reich as camp goes on.
