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The Sports Junkies react to the Washington Commanders selecting Sonny Styles.
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00:00the commanders get dan quinn's guy that is his guy apparently sunny styles yeah out of peter's
00:06guy that's i mean he has a type you have four options do you love it do you like it
00:13meh or do
00:14you hate it you can vote at junks radio i can't imagine too many besides eric bickle hates it
00:20um but but it came down to styles jordan tyson and caleb downs those are the three guys that
00:25we kind of talked about at seven uh you know i'm not a commander fan but i would have thought
00:32that
00:32caleb downs there at seven would be a great pick as well we thought tate might have been available
00:36but he wasn't he wasn't correct another little bit of a surprise going out early to the titans
00:43and delane getting picked one pick before styles with the chiefs moving up yep enabled styles to
00:49fall into the commander's lap right because if those two things don't happen he might probably
00:53gone down to seven he's probably gone so those two things really enabled the commanders to land
00:58the guy that i mean i wish i saw what the top of their draft board looked like but i'm
01:03sure sunny
01:04sunny styles if he wasn't atop it he was two or three on their draft board yeah like he was
01:09super
01:09high on their board and they seemed thrilled to be able to get him with the seventh pick i mean
01:15we'll
01:15never know but do you think it was bailey reese styles or do you think love was ahead of i
01:24think
01:24styles could have been atop their draft board he could have been their number one overall player
01:29because we know how peters really favors these guys who are freak athletes i mean you're gonna have a
01:36pairing now of chanel and sunny styles it's the most most freakish linebacker tandem in nfl history
01:44if you go statistically on the uh yeah because sunny styles scored a perfect 10 right highest ever for
01:50a linebacker and leo chanel scored a 9.9 right so they they're athletic freaks revamped this linebacker
01:58room in one off season yeah and i mean just on paper just think about how much better this defense
02:05is
02:05right on paper seems markedly better you got to go out and play and stop teams and and win but
02:11on paper just on who they signed and drafting styles they are just so much better on the
02:17defensive side of the ball and i think this goes without saying this this signals the end of the
02:21bobby wagner era yeah in dc which is kind of reminded me styles kind of reminds me of wagner right
02:27kind of
02:27looks like a younger version of him very well spoken seems like a good dude oh see praise is a
02:32great
02:32leader oh yeah a good communicator no he's he's gonna be really good in the locker room on the
02:37field he's gonna be their leader if he stays healthy but i can't imagine a lot of jp just in
02:43terms of your poll i can't imagine a lot are gonna hate the pick well they seem to hate it
02:48unless they
02:48were all in on caleb downs and didn't want to touch styles right i gotta think that most fans this
02:53is
02:53where you love it this is where you entrust peters and his staff to go by their board and their
02:58board
02:58clearly had sunny styles ranked above caleb downs look everything you say is is accurate about his
03:05athletic score and clearly if you look at where they were in terms of speed at the linebacker position
03:12bringing in chanel and then drafting sunny styles it's going to be a fast linebacking core now he's
03:20going to be the mike linebacker he's going to call the plays um he's going to wear the green dot
03:25he's going to that's what sunny styles can be the questions that i had along with db is why not
03:33more production this past season on the field why only one sack why didn't he have more tackles why
03:40didn't he have more game-changing plays i i might have an answer this is from espn one of the
03:48questions
03:48to his linebackers coach at ohio state james lauronitis said basically they would have used
03:55styles similarly to arbel reese this year if they didn't have reese so reese's skill set was more
04:03get after the quarterback sacks pressure and you know patricia had him just doing different things
04:11yeah so it sounds like styles can do all those things but they had a guy who was better at
04:17some of
04:17that other skill set than he was let's hear from adam peters the general manager of the washington
04:24commanders let's hear what he said about sunny styles even being available at number seven
04:30good evening everybody um it's uh it's it's i've been smiling ear to ear for a while now uh you
04:41know
04:42after all the all the high fives and and everything and kind of settled in but um you know we
04:48got sunny
04:48styles and um and for i can't tell you how many reasons why we liked him uh but but it's
04:56you can go
04:57on and on about him and uh we're thrilled to have him and so to pick sunny styles with the
05:02seventh pick
05:03um yeah didn't think he was going to be there um thought there was a low chance there was a
05:08chance but
05:09um it was an easy pick when when he when he was there and we were on on the clock
05:14so
05:16that's pretty telling where he says it was an easy pick yeah like they're like we can't believe he's
05:21here like let's just get the pick in well and it came in pretty quick right yeah it was they
05:25couldn't believe that tate was drafted fourth by the titans because a lot of mocks had styles going
05:31in the top five yeah and then the chiefs bypassed him because they wanted the corner in in the
05:37lane did the chiefs believe the commanders were going to take mansoor they they may have yeah
05:43but why else would they move up or maybe they thought the saints were going to pick him at eight
05:47there were a few teams in front of them so good glad glad those things transpired do you think if
05:54the commanders had to choose between styles and mansoor they would have stuck with styles yes you do
06:01if i had to guess i'm guessing styles is higher on their board than i'm guessing it was styles yeah
06:05let's go to cut number two this is peters talking about sunny styles and what he'll bring to the
06:12table a little bit about sunny as a player i mean he's he's huge he's he's really like i mean
06:19it's uh
06:20it's just amazing he's 21 years old he's a young guy uh he's he's just scratching the surface but he's
06:26only elite athlete elite size elite length um and he's just scratching the surface as a linebacker and
06:32he's already really good and he's only going to get better um that's what gave me a lot of confidence
06:37too is that he's going to get better and we have the people in this building with our coaching staff
06:43and the support staff to get him there and then himself uh he's the type of person who will reach
06:48whatever potential he has he will reach that potential um he's humble he's driven uh he's he's
06:57just just kind of checks every box and so it made it an easy pick we had a great visit
07:04with him um
07:05on the 30 visit uh super impressive super impressive football intelligence super impressive just
07:12presence and just everything about him screamed commander yeah you could tell they were when they
07:19had it the the phone call with sunny styles before he was selected like peters was gushing dan
07:26quinn couldn't couldn't have been happier josh harris seemed super pumped yeah about the pick like
07:31they they were thrilled that they were able to land him at number seven and it it just it screamed
07:37to
07:37you that they did not expect him to be there at seven well let me just counter this by saying
07:43besides the sean mcveigh presser where people are saying he doesn't look thrilled yeah didn't every war
07:51room look thrilled at their selection generally yes that seems to be the vibe everybody's clapping
07:56everyone stands up and claps and they high five and they hug 25 guys hugging in every war room yeah
08:02that's what every pick that's what they do so i wouldn't read too much into that you better like your
08:07pick especially when you're at number seven so they take sunny styles he talked about potential
08:13and you know i think that that that that the people it's not that i don't like the pick
08:18um i just like to see more production from from guys in college than just great combine stats i mean
08:29the stats are ridiculous i'm sure we all saw kind of the same tweets that like his size isn't far
08:35from derrick henry his speed isn't far from like these blazers like athletically as cake said he's got
08:41this perfect score on on on the athletic scores it's just at least this season it didn't translate
08:50as much but i think you're getting i think you're getting caught up in the sacks more than anything
08:53like he was also like interceptions how about here's an important one force fumbles how many
08:59tackles he missed last year i don't miss two tackles and for a team as bad defensively as the
09:07commanders were and it it burned our retinas to watch them last year having a sound tackler in
09:13the middle of your defense is a huge upgrade for them i think people get caught up in that because
09:17in two years at oh the last two years he had 182 tackles 17 for loss he had eight sacks
09:24he had eight
09:25pass deflections one pick i mean you caught talk about interceptions i mean it's not easy to get
09:29interceptions yeah um especially a lot like a lot of quarterbacks aren't going to throw at you
09:34sometimes especially do middle linebackers usually come down with a ton of picks and i think and i
09:39think a lot of those when you look at the sack numbers interception he played all kinds of
09:43different positions he played off ball linebacker he he played edge he dropped into coverage he was
09:48covering tight ends and running backs sometimes receivers too he's just a versatile i'm sure that's
09:53what they love about his skill set is that he's not just a guy who's going to be a thumper
09:58as far as
09:59tackling and stopping the run yeah he can do what bobby wagner clearly can't cover guys coming out of
10:05the backfield cover fast tight ends he hits like a back truck yep uh i mean what's not to love
10:12about
10:12the guy look i was watching i think he's gonna be really i was watching some of the insiders talk
10:16about him and i'm just giving you part of the equation that some people have these doubts and i had
10:25some of it but watching and we're going to play some of this audio later watching some of these
10:29insiders talk about what he brings to the table i'm sold i mean he's gonna have to deliver i'm sold
10:35now he's somebody who also improved in college here's what adam peters talked about it because
10:40he wasn't playing linebacker at first when you saw you talk about the improving later as a linebacker
10:45where were there some moments that can that you saw maybe some really big improvements that kind
10:50of convince you like he's really taken off this is a guy that can keep doing this in the nfl
10:55yeah i think it really in every every kind of um portion of the game john i think um you
11:01know
11:02you see him playing in the box and using his hands and shedding blocks and and reading blocks and then
11:07getting to the getting the ball and and playing like physical like taking on guards and it got better and
11:13better and then as a blitzer he got better um and i think he's just scratching the surface there and
11:18he's going to be a great blitzer and um so all those things that you know come with changing
11:25positions um you saw it kind of come to life and he saw it in the playoffs i mean he
11:30played against
11:31indiana his game against indiana was incredible um and just made some big time plays in in the in
11:37the miami game as well indiana wasn't playoffs but um you know you know everything about them so
11:43i mean matt miller who does analysis for espn cops into fred warner if you get a cop to fred
11:51warner
11:51is pretty good that's a pretty solid comp yeah and we know adam peters has experience with warner from
11:57his san francisco days so i'm sure he saw some of that in sunny styles hence why he made the
12:03pick well
12:04what they lacked on defense last year the most was speed and youth yeah they've infused the team
12:11defensively for their new defensive coordinator with speed and youth by the way frankie louvoo
12:16frankie louvoo is getting uh ras score shamed by his new linebacker crew because sunny styles
12:23scored a 10 leo chanel scored a 9.9 frankie louvoo he's got a doo-doo ras at 3.91
12:313.9 he may not be in the long-term plans that's entirely that's another reason we talked about that
12:38last night it's another reason why they probably went to that position because who knows how long
12:42louvoo will be here so when they got to the seventh pick yeah and you were a priority in your
12:48bed i was
12:49i stayed up until after the cowboys took um downs what did you think they were going to do because
12:56as you mentioned they're at seven uh i thought carnell tate had been drafted but tyson was available
13:02the next best receiver um you had caleb downs the safety available and you had sunny styles did you
13:10think it was going to be styles no i knew it was going to be sunny styles once he was
13:15there at seven
13:16once the chiefs picked the lane yeah i mean i just i knew that roger goodell was going to step
13:21to the
13:22podium and say sunny style i was i was 50 50 on styles and downs i didn't know this is
13:28kind of a coin flip
13:29again styles won out just because of his his his combine performance his combine performance mixed
13:35with the tape sealed it for adam peters and his staff and we talked about them up their board we
13:41talked about the secondary last night and we talked about the secondary throughout i mean they added
13:46cross at safety yeah i'm not saying that that means they couldn't have drafted another safety they
13:51certainly could have but maybe they felt decent about that whereas they feel like there was a
13:55greater need at linebacker and he'd have a bigger impact here's what peter said about how they plan
14:00to use sunny styles on defense given his versatility kind of how do you guys envision using him yeah i
14:08think that's one of the cool things because we have a really talented room i think and and guys that
14:12are
14:12all very versatile and so and we have a coaching staff that is really good about deploying those guys
14:18and so i mean sunny's a guy who can play off the ball he can play on the ball um
14:23he can you can mug up
14:25and blitz he there's so many different things he'd do he'd play mike but will play sam you know they
14:30all
14:30those different things he's got the size to play on the edge and so um he's really versatile and so
14:37you we can kind of mix and match and deploy those guys and play you know as many linebackers as
14:42we can
14:42on the field and i'm excited to see what the the guys will do with with durante and dq and
14:47and ken and
14:48those guys like they're gonna they're gonna get be able to get really creative it will be interesting
14:54because most of the time last year they were seemingly just playing two linebackers yeah
15:00and they do have edge rushers but yeah now you can use some of those guys to basically
15:08rush on the edge i was gonna say because styles can do a bunch of different things
15:11you know what i mean he's not just a linebacker versatile guy he's gonna cover guys go out there on
15:16the edge and go after the quarterback love it i love the versatility he brings to the defense
15:20they're gonna use them all over the place yeah i think you're i think commanders fans are gonna be
15:24uh very happy and excited including mr bickle he might need some winning over but eventually
15:30he's probably gonna come around we're gonna try and catch up with eb who's uh en route to utah
15:36for his daughter's volleyball tournament but what he tweeted last night definitely upset the fan base
15:42so he first tweeted we drafted a project then this is an old school name he tweeted mike mamula jr
15:51who was an eagles draft choice that was a combine freak right and he got drafted high because he was
15:59had these ridiculous athletic scores and then he didn't do anything in the pro he's gonna get the
16:03last laugh if caleb downs goes to dallas and he's an eight-time pro bowler and turns around a future
16:10defense and he's really good and if sonny styles face plants here in dc yeah i just don't think
16:16that's going to happen i don't think i think they're both going to be really good yeah i don't think
16:19sonny styles is jamon davis part two no i don't either i don't think that's going to be the way
16:25it
16:25plays out for him the way his story ends here in washington but i'm willing to give him a chance
16:30and
16:31see actually how good he is in this defense led by dan quinn and durante jones yeah and when eric
16:40says he watches when he was watching the highlights of of styles and he said nothing really jumped out
16:44i don't i just think that's preconceived because you already don't like him when i was watching
16:51highlights from this past year he's just making plays all over the field right i mean he is he's
16:55making tackles he's he's behind the line of scrimmage getting pressure on the quarterback he's
16:59deflecting balls he's yeah he's uh he's covering tight ends and running backs i mean he's he's doing
17:05a ton more importantly people that know way more about football and are paid way more to know more
17:11about football than everybody in this room right they don't believe he's a project determined that
17:17sonny styles is a better player at least for them and for their system than caleb downs was correct
17:23both of those players were readily available to be selected that doesn't mean that's the right pick
17:29because every guy who made a draft choice last night right from every team knows more than us
17:34yeah and yet they miss make mistakes all the time it's not perfect science i've never said it is so
17:40just to use the argument that they know more than us that doesn't mean they're right doesn't mean
17:44they're right but that brain trust they spent months and months and millions of dollars researching
17:51these guys and they determined styles is a better fit for them and a better player than caleb downs
17:58so you have like do you just have to peters you trust adam well some people he's doing some people
18:04don't if you don't if you trust adam peters then you have to trust in him making this selection
18:10should we go to the phones real quick let's go out to uh line two
18:17yeah i think it's ben ben you're on with the junkies what's up i think it's a good pick and
18:22i think the biggest reason is we're seeing a big change in the nfl you're taking a look at a
18:27lot of
18:27blurring between edges and linebackers and blurring between linebackers and secondary and diverse
18:33players or i should say versatile players are are a must and it's like some stuff i just heard a
18:40little
18:41while ago that you said that he may they may have changed his style a little bit because at ohio
18:46state he's a big fish in a big pond and when he comes here he'll be a big fish and
18:51a not so big
18:52pond so i think you'll see his numbers actually go up and he shows he can learn and i got
18:57one other
18:57thing to say real quick about yesterday you do not want to take a private jet to oc i've flown
19:04private jet
19:05for work between um well it wouldn't be a private jet so langley and you don't you'll never get to
19:14speed it's still going to be a 40 minute trip because you never get up to speed in altitude get
19:19a tour bus man live in luxury for the for 120 miles all right thank you thank you appreciate that
19:27it's not going to be a private jet with 10 seats it's going to be a legit jet with a
19:32plane with 150
19:33seats right big boy and like drab said last night or yesterday on the show it's probably not going to
19:38happen yeah it could be a pipe dream yeah yeah 1-800-636-1067 is the number talking about the
19:45commanders taking sunny styles with the number seven pick the linebacker from ohio state you can vote on
19:52our poll of the day our surfside poll of the day at junks radio when we come back we'll go
19:57through
19:58the top 10 picks and react to who did really well and who surprised us here on the junkies
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