Mended Markus Bailey Aims To Impress NFL Teams Before Draft

Purdue outside linebacker Markus Bailey is recovering from an ACL tear in his right knee that cut short his senior season. Ready to resume football activities, he met with NFL teams at this week's NFL Scouting Combine.

Phillip B Wilson | Feb 29, 2020

INDIANAPOLIS — After enduring an all-too-familiar arduous path to recover from reconstructive knee surgery, Purdue outside linebacker Markus Bailey reveled in the opportunity to talk about playing football again at this week’s NFL Scouting Combine.

His senior season was reduced to just two games by a right ACL tear suffered in practice in early September, Bailey underwent surgery on Oct. 1, 2019, and has been told by his Dallas surgeon that he can resume football activities in March. So while he was only able to participate in the bench press at the combine, Bailey considered meeting with prospective NFL employers for interviews as vitally important.

He’s more than eager to prove he belongs in the NFL. Projected before his injury as a possible mid- to late-round selection, Bailey doesn’t know what will happen in the draft. He’s just confident, after showing the versatility of playing different linebacker roles for the Boilermakers, that he belongs somewhere.

Bailey looks forward to showing how far he’s come at Purdue’s Pro Day on April 2. The NFL Draft is April 23-25.

“I’ve been doing everything I can to get ready for it,” he said Thursday. “I feel like my rehab has been going really well. No issues. No setbacks, and I think I’ll be ready to go.”

As a junior in 2018, Bailey had a team-high 116 tackles, including nine for losses, 5.5 sacks and a memorable 41-yard interception return for a touchdown in an upset win over No. 2 Ohio State. The game was especially sweet considering Bailey is from Columbus, Ohio.

But two games into his senior year, he leaped to defend a screen pass, got hit and landed wrong. Because he had tore the ACL in his left knee as a freshman, he knew this injury was serious, too.

As much as he envisioned a strong final year to help his team and boost his draft prospects, Bailey had to reset and rebound with determination to get ready for this next step.

“Yeah, I can’t say for certain, but going into the season, I was looking to be a mid-round pick,” he said. “It all just depends on what they think about the medical scans and what teams think about me from the interviews. I feel confident that I’ve done well so far. I just control what I can control.”

What would an NFL team be getting?

“To start off with, I would say I’m a very tough player, a very smart player, a high-effort guy,” he said. “Besides that, I think what kind of sets me apart is I’m super versatile. Throughout my career at Purdue, I went through three defensive coordinators. I played in several linebacker positions in several schemes.

“I was recruited as a SAM (strong side) backer in a 4-3. When we had a coaching change my redshirt freshman year, I moved to WILL (weak side) backer and played a bunch of man coverage. When coach (defensive coordinator Nick) Holt and (head) coach (Jeff) Brohm came in, we ran a bunch of 3-4 stuff and I was on the edge playing a true 3-4 outside backer/edge defender. I played in space as a SAM backer, and in the nickel package I was a WILL backer.

"Coach Holt liked an aggressive scheme, so we blitzed our linebackers a lot. I got good at that. I’m good in the box, getting off blocks, it’s like instinctive, I process things really well because of my experience.”

Bailey reiterates that football, as in life, requires determination to succeed. That he’s poised to become a pro, hopefully healed, is indicative of his desire.

“Playing college football and just life in general, adversity is something that’s going to inevitably happen at some point,” he said. “I knew how to bounce back from an ACL injury.

“When I tore my right one this year, obviously I was very devastated because I was excited for my senior season, to have a big year. At some point, I just had to shift my focus and look forward to my next endeavor, which was the NFL Combine and the NFL draft.”

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