00:05Ohio State linebacker Sonny Stiles just put the entire NFL on notice when he dominated at the
00:12combine, and I think he made a case for the Giants to draft him fifth overall. I said it with
00:17my
00:17chest. We all saw it. His testing numbers match his tape. Let's look at his measurables. 6'5",
00:24245, ran 4'49, has a 43.5 inch vert that's more explosive than a lot of receivers out there,
00:3411'2 broad jump, and he looked absolutely fluid in the position drill. He is size meets speed meets
00:43violence. He can cover a tight end. He can spot drop in coverage, and even better if you want,
00:49you can blitz him. I think that he could be a positionless player in Giants defensive coordinator
00:55Denard Wilson's scheme. He'd be that hybrid second-level defender. So let me show you guys
01:01what he said at the combine about what he'd bring to the Giants defense, and then I'm going to show
01:06you a couple plays so you can see for yourself what the man would bring. But don't worry, I'm
01:12still going to break it down in this Blue Rush draft profile. Yeah, that meeting was awesome.
01:16Coach Harbaugh was great. Coach Bush was great. I think in the way I can improve the run defense,
01:22I think just being in the middle, like with this past year when I was playing Mike this past year,
01:27I feel like I had a great feel for what was coming, the way I studied the game. I thought
01:31I showed
01:31physical hands on film, physical strike. I thought I showed some sure tackling this past year for the
01:36most part. So just coming in the building, earning the trust of the guys in front of me,
01:42you know, you got to make sure the defense line in front of you trusts you. Earning the trust of
01:46the
01:46guys in the room, earning the trust of the guys behind me, and then being able to command the
01:50defense if I was called to be the Mike. All right, Mr. Stiles, we heard you, sir. Now let's see
01:56what
01:57you would bring to the Giants defense. My dad used to always say when I was a kid growing up,
02:02I'm like Missouri, the show me state. So let's show these people how you would step in and be an
02:08absolute dog on day one. Let's quickly run through this play because it just goes to show how this kid
02:14is great. He's elite in space. Zero missed tackles in 2025. You see him turn, run, play underneath,
02:23rally to the football, make the tackle, get the strip, force the fumble. Now I understand the
02:29down and distance, fourth and 10, they're up 21, but I just want to show how Denard Wilson can use
02:35this guy. Again, you could blitz him, you could play him at the mic, you can man him up against
02:40the
02:40tight end or running back, or you can spot drop him in space. Understands his keys. This looks like
02:47a combine drill here. You see how he turns, runs, and tries to play underneath. You understand that
02:53they're in some three zone concept here. Deep third, deep third, deep third. Hook the curl,
03:00hook the curl, and you see him turn, run, play the quarterback's eyes, and try and play underneath
03:07here. But here's what makes him special. His ability to put his foot into the ground, rally on a shorter
03:13route like a shallow cross, or here's the bat coming out of the backfield, rally, close space,
03:22and make the play. I want you to watch when he puts his right foot into the ground there. You
03:29see him?
03:29You see that right foot going to the ground here? Look at how much space is between both he
03:36and this running back about to catch the football. I know he kind of bobbles it a little bit,
03:40so that adds a little bit of extra time. But if he's not as explosive as he is, most running
03:46backs,
03:47especially in the NFL, are going to have time to catch, kind of navigate this space, and either
03:53make a guy, usually you make a guy miss with all this type of space. But watch him close. Closes,
03:59gets his arm on the football, forces the fumble.
04:04This next play here is nothing special in terms of him creating or making a big play. Again,
04:11I just want to show you how the combine drills, the on-field combine drills that he did,
04:17it wasn't just him in pajamas and shirts and the shorts running around in drills. Those drills
04:25and that athleticism translate to the football field. And he shows it here. Just spying the
04:31quarterback, eyeing, spying. Look at all this space. All of this space this quarterback has to
04:38run the football. But I want you to watch Sonny Stiles. Again, close. Close the green. Close the deal.
04:47He's closing on this quarterback with violence. And he's like a lion. He's like how Ray Lewis used to run
04:54down and tackle running backs. So he's in this spy position, which in the NFC East, you've got Jalen
05:01Hurts. You've got Jaden Daniels. Why not use a 6'5", 240-plus linebacker that can run sub 4'5",
05:10runs 4'4", 7. Why not use him to spy a quarterback, an athletic quarterback? All this space for this
05:16quarterback to turn up the field and get vertical. But you see Sonny Stiles here. Close.
05:24Close. Close. Has a great angle to cut him off and watch at the point of contact. Violence.
05:31Violence at the point of contact. Now he's down. But you see ball ends up coming out at the end.
05:38All right. This next play is to show how you can blitz him as well. You can play him off
05:44ball.
05:44Doesn't have to be detached. He can play in that mic-ish position. He can play in the box. Again,
05:516'5", 245. He's got the athleticism, the explosiveness to play in the box and cause havoc
05:58and bring violence. Right here, you see them. Matt Patricia, defense coordinator Matt Patricia,
06:04blitz him. And he brings the party. He B-Y-O-E's to the party. Bring your own energy. He
06:14brings his own
06:15energy and brings his own violence to the party. You see the point of contact here. Somewhere around
06:20what, the 44? This bat gets pushed into the quarterback. Now he may not, Sonny Stiles may not
06:27get credited with this sack. But the importance of this play is how now this interior pressure
06:34is going to make a quarterback think twice before he makes some sort of throw. He's going to think
06:40twice. And what that helps, that helps the back end, whether they have to recover on a route concept
06:46or whether, you know, a guy like here, number two, I believe that's Caleb Downs, whether he's ready to
06:51jump. He may not be there yet in terms of jumping a route. But if this quarterback has to double
06:57clutch
06:58or to have some sort of uncertainty, then that gives a DB time to recover and make a play on
07:04the
07:04football. But again, you see the violence that he is bringing at the point of contact, driving this
07:11running back into the quarterback and just all these, all these guys are here. But if Sonny Stiles
07:17doesn't do what he's supposed to do and plug up that, I believe, A-gap, I saw him blitz in,
07:22if he doesn't plug that up, then that quarterback's going to be able to put his right foot into the
07:28ground here on his last drop step and then get vertical and beat that pass rush, beat that blitz.
07:34But he can't do it because Sonny Stiles bring the violence up the middle.
07:40And if the aliens had to study Sonny Stiles and they asked me, they had like a little zap
07:48gun to my head and said, give me one play to show what Sonny Stiles is all about. This is
07:54the play
07:55right here. Let's quickly watch it before we break it down. Because to me, it shows elite athleticism.
08:01It shows elite IQ and elite play recognition. You see Malachi Tony here. Really like watching
08:09this kid. Can't wait to break down his tape when he goes into the NFL. But you see Sonny Stiles
08:14just shoot the gap right here. This is poetry. This is art. This is football at his finest, y'all.
08:23All right. So we're watching here. I want you to watch this kid because look at his right arm
08:29communicate with this Sam Backer. It looks like they're in a 3-4 right here. 1-2-3-4. Maybe
08:35some
08:35sub-nickel package. He's watched with this split of this tight end with three receivers, three by one
08:45over here. Three by one, but it's closed. Formation's closed on this side. I mean, the play
08:53recognition knowing that this jet sweep is coming. So watch here. Watch him here.
08:59He's telling him to what? Bump, bump, bump. Widen out. Here comes that jet sweep. I want you to set
09:06the edge because I'm going to shoot through this A, B, C gap here to make this play. So again,
09:13you see the play recognition. You see the IQ telling him to bump. I got you, bro. I got you,
09:18bro.
09:19He's already, he's already jumped it. Once he sees Malachi Tony, he sees number three,
09:25this third receiver going to a motion. He has already made up his mind that he's going to take
09:31that gap and he knows that he's covered. He's got his help to the outside. It's going to force this
09:36ball back into the inside and it's his job to shoot this gap and to make a play in the
09:41backfield. You
09:42see him shoot. You see he gets there so fast that it doesn't allow this left guard to get, I
09:48believe
09:48it's the left guard. Let me see. Let me see. Let me see. Doesn't allow this left tackle to come
09:53off
09:53of this double team and to get it and make his way up to the second level to block him.
09:59So watch
09:59how fast and explosive he is. He's already explosive as an athlete, but he's even faster because of his
10:06IQ. Shoots the gap, gets skinny, navigates through the noise, the color, makes a play in the backfield.
10:20Again, this kid between his game tape and his measurements and his performance at the combine
10:30just showed the New York football giants that I'm ready for you to take me at number five.
10:38This kid can do everything and I got a confession to make. I'm going to pull my own receipt because
10:43in our New York Post Sports Mock Draft 2.0, which you should check out on YouTube, I tried to
10:49create
10:49some sort of trade scenario where the Giants traded back into the first round to grab Stiles. I had them
10:55trading in and grabbing him at 24. I couldn't be, I couldn't have been even more wrong. There's no way
11:03this kid's on the board at 10, let alone 24. His combine just solidified him being taken in the top
11:09three to eight, let alone the top 10. You saw it. I just showed you the breakdown. The testing numbers
11:16match his tape. So if I'm the Giants, I'm going to find a way to draft this kid because he
11:21now becomes
11:22that hybrid linebacker that you can pair up with a Bobby Okereke. And now Stiles is that second level
11:29defender that you can use to cover tight ends or explosive backs. And he's even the one that you
11:34can drop into coverage and allow him to play in space. He can rally and make tackles, zero missed
11:41tackles in 2025. And then when you want to get real creative, you switch things up and you blitz them.
11:48He'll get there. I know the Giants have other holes that they need to fill and address, but Will
11:53linebacker is one of those positions. He could also transition into possibly playing Mike Backer
11:59as his career goals. Who knows? I mean, this kid can do a little bit of everything and he can
12:03do it
12:04well. You saw the breakdown. Sonny Stiles' performance at the combine just put the Giants in a tough
12:12position at number five.
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