00:00But with Washington now on the clock, Sonny Stiles has fallen into their lap.
00:06Is there any way the Commanders don't take Sonny Stiles?
00:10Listen, Stiles, Downs, his Ohio State teammate, that seems to be staring you right in the face right here.
00:17I didn't think Stiles would be available. That was the most mocked to this team, by the way, for a
00:20lot of people over the last 48 hours.
00:22If they end up with Caleb Downs, it tells you that throughout this entire process, they have been high enough
00:28on him that we didn't talk enough about it.
00:30I think a lot of people were dismissive maybe because safety hasn't been a huge need or because either the
00:35size or the measurables doesn't feel like a...
00:37RAS score isn't a 9.9999.
00:39Not a Peters guy or what have you.
00:41But if they take Caleb Downs here over Sonny Stiles, obviously it means he's higher on their board and he
00:46was their guy from Jump Street.
00:48I will be stunned if this is not Sonny Stiles.
00:51It feels Stiles to me.
00:52So Kansas City leapfrogging them to take Delane tells you that may have been the priority for Washington.
00:58Or at least that was the perceived priority.
01:00Like around the league knowing, hey, this guy's not going to get to us there.
01:03I don't know if New Orleans would have done it at 8 just after Washington.
01:07Cleveland certainly didn't have any interest at that spot.
01:09So there you go.
01:10Kansas City moves up.
01:11They didn't have to give up a ton to move up three spots to get their man in Mansour Delane.
01:15But now Washington has the choice.
01:17A couple Ohio State defenders.
01:18Sonny Stiles is available.
01:19Jordan Tyson, wide receiver for Arizona State, is still available.
01:22Caleb Downs is there.
01:23You could go, you know, maybe a little bit more rogue in terms of Makai Lemon further down the board.
01:28But it feels Stiles to me, does it?
01:30So I'll rank it in likeliness, I think.
01:32Stiles has to be one.
01:33One.
01:33I would think that Caleb Downs, I'm going to go down the board a little bit, would be two.
01:38Two.
01:38And then you could pick your weapon probably.
01:40You know, which receiver do you like more?
01:42Makai Lemon or Jordan Tyson?
01:43I would say Jordan Tyson would be third on my list there.
01:46But no way Reuben Bain, right?
01:49I don't think so.
01:50There were people in that building that love Reuben Bain.
01:52There's absolutely no doubt about that.
01:54That would feel rich to me based on the trend of the last week.
01:58The last thing I was told today, I tweeted this about an hour and a half ago,
02:01was they wanted a defensive starter.
02:03And they expected Delane and Downs to be the conversation.
02:08I don't think they thought they could get Sonny Stiles.
02:10So if the information a lot of us have had is correct,
02:14that was the guy if he slid to them, they'd take him.
02:16It's going to be very, very surprising if they don't.
02:19But the last caveat would be that Adam Peters works in the dark.
02:23He works in the shadows.
02:24Nobody ever knows what he thinks.
02:26But, Danny, it would be flooring if it's not Sonny Stiles.
02:31Think about what you've got a Durante Jones defense.
02:34This is a Brian Flores scheme.
02:35You would have the most athletic linebacking core in recently history.
02:38Ever assembled.
02:39Sonny Stiles is legitimately the most athletic linebacker in draft history.
02:44That's not an observation or an opinion.
02:46That is a fact, statistically, RAS score.
02:49The guy that finished third all-time when he came out,
02:52in terms of athleticism score at the linebacker position,
02:55out of almost 2,500, was Leo Chennault.
02:57You have two of the most athletic linebackers, if you take Stiles,
03:00in the history of the league.
03:02To go along with Frankie Louvoo,
03:03who's badass coming from the second level,
03:06think about the things you could draw up in that cross-bucking,
03:08A-gap, game-running, linebacking core scheme.
03:12I'm salivating thinking about it.
03:14Oh, I like giving Louvoo less responsibility,
03:16and that sounds very negative.
03:17I don't mean it that way.
03:18Basically say, you're downhill.
03:19We'll run and care for the rest and kind of figure it out.
03:22But one thing I want to bring up super quick
03:24is that Washington didn't trade back with Kansas City.
03:27Kansas City didn't have to leapfrog anybody else
03:29other than Washington to get somebody,
03:31so I wonder if they tried.
03:32The commander's pick is in right now.
03:34The bar's coming to life.
03:36We're looking at their war room.
03:37A lot of high fives, smiles, hand-pounds, and hugs.
03:40That is a very happy room.
03:43Is this going to be Sonny Stiles, who fell right into their lap?
03:47Are the commanders going to get a player we didn't think they would?
03:50This award presented by Nationwide is awarded to one player each year
03:55and celebrates their profound impact on and off the field.
04:01I'm joined on stage by former winners Lin Swan and Jerome Bettis.
04:12And the league welcomed its newest member
04:15to the prestigious club two months ago,
04:18Super Bowl champion and six-time All-Pro Bobby Wagner.
04:23Here you go, Bobby.
04:27On behalf of the Peyton family and Nationwide,
04:30I encourage players drafted this week
04:32to make their community and the league a better place.
04:40With the seventh pick in the 2026 NFL Draft,
04:45the Washington commanders select Sonny Stiles,
04:50linebacker, Ohio State.
04:52Let's go!
04:53Man, oh, man.
04:54The commanders got exactly what they wanted.
04:57Sonny Stiles falls into their lap at pick number seven.
05:02Live at Honor Brewing, let's listen in to the reaction in-house.
05:06With the seventh pick in the 2026 NFL Draft,
05:10Goodell's making the announcement.
05:14Sonny Stiles.
05:17That's a happy draft party there.
05:19That's a good pop, boys.
05:19That's a good pop.
05:20That's a happy draft party.
05:22The people get it.
05:23I am thrilled.
05:24I didn't think he'd be here.
05:26One of the most athletic players in the history of the draft.
05:30Sonny Stiles is the size of Calvin Johnson
05:33and the speed of one of the fastest cornerbacks in the league.
05:37Second-team AP All-American.
05:39The knock has been he does not play a premium position.
05:43Inside linebacker, that green dot, is not a premium spot.
05:47The highest-paid players in the position are not paid an elite level.
05:51And so, typically, this is not something you want to draft in the top ten.
05:54But I think you've got to account for this new scheme.
05:57I just don't think anything's typical this year.
05:59Number one, I think you touched on it, scheme.
06:00Number two, this draft this year.
06:02I think you have to kind of throw typical out the window.
06:05A running back just went number three overall
06:06to a team that's got four pretty good running backs.
06:08There's no normal this year.
06:10You know what I mean?
06:10The number one overall pick wasn't scrutinized by anybody.
06:13But for Washington here,
06:15if you just use him as a plain old middle linebacker
06:18waiting to flow to the football
06:19and make a tackle four yards down the field of a running back,
06:22you're wasting your time.
06:23You have a Ferrari.
06:24You have the ultimate sports car.
06:26You have the guy that can do all sorts of things
06:29that very few people that have ever played this game can do
06:32in terms of athleticism,
06:33in terms of sprint speed,
06:34in terms of quickness, agility, strength.
06:37All that combination for a guy that's still learning the position
06:39missed all of two tackles.
06:41Not one, two tackles last year
06:43for the Ohio State University.
06:45Your athletic linebacker core is now off the charts
06:48in terms of that kind of a grade,
06:50and it opens up all sorts of possibilities.
06:52Look at the difference in a year.
06:53Last year, you watched this slow, plotting defense.
06:57And at linebacker, Bobby Wagner did some really good things.
07:00He still has some strengths.
07:01They could not run.
07:03They could not cover.
07:04They could not run side to side.
07:06If you ran outside zone,
07:07if you got outside the tackles,
07:09it was curtains.
07:10That linebacking, Corey Irrigo,
07:12was one of the slowest and least athletic
07:14in the National Football League,
07:15unless Jordan McGee was on the field.
07:17They have added Leo Chennault,
07:19who is one of the five most athletic linebackers in football,
07:22and Sonny Stiles, who tore the Combine to shreds.
07:25Now, there will be some that will say
07:27he's a Combine warrior, more athlete than tape,
07:30or what have you.
07:31He just started transitioning to linebacker
07:33over the last couple of seasons.
07:34He had been a safety.
07:36He does not look like your traditional linebacker.
07:38This is now positionless football.
07:40And I'm telling you,
07:41in this scheme with Durante Jones,
07:43where everybody moves around,
07:45where you got people standing up
07:46at all angles of the defense,
07:48and you're running games in the A-gap,
07:50where you're basically asking one linebacker
07:52to take a guard on,
07:54and the other to loop behind him,
07:55to have him and Chennault and Lou Vu,
07:59Durante Jones will have no excuses
08:01not to dial up pressures with this group.
08:03So this, to me, is Tremaine Edmonds' version 3.0.
08:07Right?
08:08I mean, a guy that's a little bit taller,
08:09a little bit more slender than your typical,
08:11you know, HB Blades-type linebacker, right?
08:13The human fireplug.
08:14This is a different animal here.
08:15This is, as you said,
08:17the old ways of,
08:18there are four-down defensive linemen.
08:20There are three linebackers
08:21and a couple of deep safeties.
08:22Cornerbacks play close to wide receivers.
08:24That's not football anymore.
08:26It's not.
08:27Teams are too multiple.
08:28Defenses are now responding as such.
08:29So I made this argument a little bit.
08:32Frankly, I wasn't spending enough time
08:33thinking that Stiles could be possible there.
08:35I thought he was going to be gone
08:36at four or five.
08:38So that's on me.
08:39But one of the arguments I made a couple weeks ago
08:41in a sea of arguments
08:43is, yes, this position has not been as valued.
08:48Tight ends are starting to rake it in.
08:50Now you're looking at different slot receivers.
08:52You're looking at certain elements
08:53of offense and defense.
08:54This is a corresponding move
08:55to where the league is going.
08:57You're going to where the puck is going,
08:58not where it is.
08:59Sonny Stiles, second-generation
09:00National Football League players.
09:02Fowler's father won Super Bowls in the NFL,
09:056'5", and he runs a 4-4-6 at 244 pounds.
09:10Played safety to kick off his collegiate career
09:13and then moved to linebacker.
09:15The Ohio State Buckeyes have already had three
09:19of their very best come off the board.
09:21We talked for months about the possibilities for Washington.
09:25The moment Sonny Stiles went to the Combine
09:28and turned in one of the great weeks we've ever seen,
09:31it felt like he was not going to be there.
09:34And because the Tennessee Titans took Carnell Tate,
09:37which nobody had.
09:39I didn't have it.
09:39That hasn't been mocked once by anyone.
09:41That's the best-kept secret in recent draft history.
09:44Sonny Stiles falls to 6.
09:47Feels like maybe he goes there
09:49and the Chiefs leapfrog Washington
09:50to get Mansoor to lane.
09:52Stiles the pick for the Commanders at 7.
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