- 14 minutes ago
The Washington Commanders might have their next superstar player after picking Sonny Styles 7th overall in the NFL Draft! Kevin Sheehan gives his reaction and analysis on the Commanders drafting Linebacker Sonny Styles in the first round of the NFL Draft and gives a breakdown on the type of player Washington is getting.
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00:00But welcome to Washington, Sonny Stiles. Everybody happy? Good morning. Adam Peters said
00:07it was crickets in terms of tradeback opportunities and nobody was clamoring to
00:13jump up to seven. Washington stood and picked Sonny Stiles, linebacker, Ohio State. There's
00:23so much to like about Sonny Stiles. We've obviously talked a lot about Sonny Stiles
00:27leading up to this draft. Now, for me, you guys know, I loved Bailey. I loved Bain. And I think
00:36Bain, did you see the reaction? Bain's interview after sliding to 15 with those short arms? I'm
00:43telling you, Max, he's going to be one that I follow because I think he's going to wreck the
00:48league. I think it's a perfect spot for him, too, to be with Todd Bowles in Tampa. Those short arms,
00:56we'll find out. We'll find out if the short arms really are a thing when it comes to a player
01:03with
01:03that kind of motor and that kind of power. But I was, like we talked about, if they were going
01:10to
01:10stick and pick and couldn't trade back, Stiles, Tate, Delane for me. I'm happy. I like Sonny Stiles.
01:18I like him a lot. Now, I might like him for different reasons than some of you liked him.
01:25I'm just going to start with the positive. This guy's highly intelligent. This guy moved from
01:32safety to linebacker. He had a new defensive coordinator in Matt Patricia last year, and he
01:39was the brains of the operation along with Caleb Downs. I mean, both of them. I mean, you talk about
01:44a high IQ defense. They had it with, by the way, a high IQ, outstanding defensive coordinator.
01:51You know, somebody, a coach in town from one of the power WCAC schools called me this morning to
02:00just ask me, he just said, how does Ryan Day keep his job at Ohio State with all these players
02:07coming
02:07off the board in the first 11 picks? I mean, how about four Ohio State players in the first 11
02:15picks
02:16and they did not win the national championship? No, they did not. They got beat by Miami in what was
02:21a tremendous playoff game. They couldn't block Bain. They couldn't block Mesador. That was part of the
02:27problem. I mean, they just were in Julian Sands' face the entire night. But Styles is so intelligent,
02:37so versatile. This is a guy that can really run. I'm going to get to the athleticism part here in
02:43a moment.
02:44This is a guy that can cover. He can cover in man. You put him on a running back, and
02:49it's not going to be
02:50Bobby Wagner on a running back. You put him in zone, which was what he was in for much of
02:55the season
02:56at Ohio State. He's an outstanding zone coverage guy. Sonny Stiles can tackle. Sonny Stiles can
03:04absolutely, I believe, rush the passer. I mean, that may be an underrated part of Sonny Stiles.
03:12I like the player. I mean, it's hard not to like him. Highly intelligent, unbelievable culturally,
03:18according to everybody. Going to fit right in. Probably becomes the green dot, the communication guy
03:25with Durante Jones day one. And there's just a lot to like. I like him more as an inside backer
03:32than a
03:33true middle linebacker. In part because, and this would be the one thing that I would say, and it's
03:40not a red flag. It's just the one thing that I want to see Sonny Stiles prove to me. Because
03:47let's face
03:47it, he was a safety a couple of years ago. He's growing into that body at 244 pounds, 6'5".
03:54And I
03:55did notice leading up to the draft, and certainly after the draft, I think a lot of people just
04:02focused on his outrageous combine. The tape tells you all you need to know about Sonny Stiles. You
04:09don't need to know this incredible combine that he had, you know, which was a, produced a RAS score
04:15of 9.99, which was fourth since 1987 for an off-ball linebacker. I mean, it was near perfect.
04:24You know, he came in at 6'5", 244, ran 4'4", 640, had a 43 and a half inch
04:32vertical leap. I mean,
04:35he can hoop. I'm sure you've seen some of the highlights of some of his dunks. He had a broad
04:40jump that was explosive. He had a 10-yard split that was outstanding. I mean, the athleticism
04:46is what everybody seems to be focusing on. I personally, when I watched Ohio State, just
04:54as a college football fan, watching a lot of Ohio State games this year, and even when
04:58I watched in preparation for this draft more of some of the players that could go to Washington,
05:06his athleticism is there. I'm not going to say he's not athletic. He's very athletic. He can
05:10really run sideline to sideline, no doubt. But the way it was described, you know, leading into it,
05:18and then certainly on social media after the pick last night, is that he's like one of the most insane
05:24athletes that has ever played the position. That's not what you see when you watch him on the field.
05:32Like, I always think about Sean Taylor as an example of a guy that was a blur. Like, when you
05:41watched a Redskins game with Sean Taylor, you just saw somebody getting lit up and a blur. It wasn't
05:49even somebody running. It was just a blur on your television, and you were like, what was that?
05:54Oh, that was Sean Taylor. That's explosive athleticism and closing speed. That's not,
06:03to me, that's not Sonny Stiles on the football field. Now, he's really fast, sideline to sideline,
06:10super rangy. He's got long arms. He anticipates well. He's high IQ. He's all that. But the insane
06:19athleticism, I talked about this leading into the draft, that he tested in Indy, it's not that.
06:25It's okay that it's not that. You know, it's fine that it's not that. Like, when you watch a guy
06:31like,
06:32in his prime, somebody like Levante David, somebody even like Nick Bolton in Kansas City,
06:37all right? Now, he's a much smaller linebacker. But that blur, that incredible closing speed,
06:44you're like, wow, what an athlete. What a closer. It could be sort of his style. He's not a quick
06:51step guy. He's more of a, you know, medium stride guy. I think, don't get me wrong, this dude is
06:58a
06:58freak at 6'5 and 244 running a 4'4 and 6". And you see the sideline to sideline, and
07:06you see the
07:06closing speed. But you don't see a blur. That's not his style of play. He's very much, at times,
07:14you can see, very much a thinking man's player. I mean, I got the, you know, the over the middle
07:20hook,
07:20but then I can get back to get to the flat in coverage. I think, you know, who knows what
07:25the
07:25Durante Jones system is going to look like. Base 3-4, if they're in it like Flores' defense,
07:32and they're in it a lot, perfect right next to Chenault, right? I mean, two super athletic
07:38linebackers. Look, this pick, by the way, just is a continuation of a six-week run of not only
07:44getting younger on defense, but getting so much faster. They are a completely different defense
07:52athletically than they were at the end of this last season. They had to do it. I don't care what
07:57anybody says about Adam Peters, and I don't know that everything that he's done is going to work
08:03out, but he clearly identified the problem. You know, sometimes it's like the problem is so obvious
08:10to all of us, and then you're like, but the front office doesn't see it that way, based on their
08:15moves. No, we're all in agreement. The defense was horrendous. Horrendous. All-time bad, from my
08:24standpoint, you know, 50-plus years of watching this team, I don't think at the end of the season
08:31I've ever seen a worse Washington defense. They couldn't stop anybody. I mean, I remember saying
08:39when Quinn would talk about turnovers and we got to take the ball away. You can't take the ball away
08:46if you're nowhere near the ball, and in at least six, seven games last year, they weren't even near
08:52the ball. I mean, guys would turn around thinking they were going to get hit after they caught the
08:56ball, but no one was there.
09:00Chanel, Stiles, Owe, Chason, Cross, Mann, Amenahue, athlete. They have gotten much more athletic and a
09:12lot faster. Will it result in a much better defense? It'd be hard for it to be worse than it
09:19was last
09:19year. I mean, it's almost impossible to be worse than it was last year. Of course, I said that this
09:25time last year about the 2024 defense. I said in 2025, it would be really hard to be worse against
09:31the run than they were last year, and they just were worse everywhere. Now, you know, they had a lot
09:37of lost bodies and some key lost bodies, especially when it came to against the run. Armstrong and Wise
09:43obviously come to mind there, but this team defensively on paper is a completely different
09:49team. Completely different. They get six new starters, eight new contributors. Add them up,
09:57settle, Owe, Stiles, Chanel, Chason, Cross, Robertson, Amenahue. That's eight players that are likely going
10:06to start or be a big part of the rotation. Health, knock on wood. And, you know, you got a
10:17new
10:18D coordinator, and if athleticism and speed is something they're looking for, you know who tested
10:25athletically off the charts last year in the draft? Kane Medrano. Who knows? Maybe they've got big plans
10:31for him. Jordan McGee can run. We're going to see him. Frankie Louvoo is athletic.
10:39I like the player. He's a really good player. He is a high IQ player, and they needed this. This
10:46fills
10:46that other linebacking spot. Positional value, throw out the window in this draft. You got to draft
10:53the player that you think is the best on your board. I would love to know what they and several
10:57other
10:58teams specifically thought of Bain. I'm assuming it's all about the short arms. I guess it could be
11:04the car that he crashed that killed a passenger and some of the things related to that. But I really
11:12like Stiles. Love the player. I think they got themselves a plug-and-play inside linebacker.
11:20Better suited, I think, in many ways to an inside linebacker and a base 3-4, but we know the
11:26Brian
11:26Flores defense. Who the hell knows where they're all going to line up pre-snap? He's so versatile.
11:34He can cover man. He can cover zone. You can see an occasional two-high and that big hole in
11:41the
11:41middle. He's athletic enough to drop and fill that hole. Wagner wasn't. They couldn't cover people
11:47with their linebackers. And I think his underrated aspect here could be as a pass rusher. You know,
11:56long-armed, super athletic, 6'5", speed, twitchy. But again, just the one thing that I would say,
12:05and it's not a criticism. It's an observation. It's that what he, you know, and personally,
12:13I don't care that much about the Indy Combine stuff. You know, just watch the games for the
12:19most part. I think that tells you a lot more. Watching the games, he's a great player, but he's
12:24not like the most insane athlete on the field in every game. But that's not what I ever thought
12:31about Stiles. I thought, wow, rangy, really good athlete, long arm, the whole thing, you know,
12:37taller. But I didn't think of the dude's an absolute blur on the field. It could be just
12:44the way he kind of moves too. You know, not a short stepper necessarily. Love the pick. Think
12:52he is a plug and play for a long time. I think the floor is extremely high with Sonny Stiles.
12:59And I think the ceiling's really high too, because look, he's still growing into being a linebacker.
13:05He was a safety. He's still growing into it. He's growing into becoming a more consistent
13:10tackler, which he was this year, but wasn't in 2024. And man, does it fill a need for sure.
13:19This offseason started with, you know, a lot of us saying defense, defense, defense.
13:28They have certainly addressed the defensive side of the ball. Would it have been better had they ended
13:36up with Trey Hendrickson? Or, you know, some of the other players, you know, that's really the one
13:43there, Jalen Phillips. I mean, I like away. I know not everybody does. I think there's an ascending
13:49player there, especially as a pass rusher. I mean, the Chanel styles inside athleticism, speed range
13:58is going to be fun to watch. Look, I think Louvoo is an outstanding athlete and an outstanding football
14:04player. He was a part of a train wreck last year, but he was a second team all pro in
14:102024. And by the
14:11way, earned it, was deserving of it. And there are guys like, you know, Armstrong who's coming back,
14:17who is their best defensive player at the end of last year. I'll tell you this, when it comes to
14:21like a sunny styles at six, five, two 44, still kind of growing into that position, man, up front,
14:29they got to be better. They got to be a lot better this year. You know, you know, this is
14:34going to be
14:34hopefully in a contract year for 94 drawn pain, what we got in his last contract year. I mean,
14:42the dude's going to have to eat up a lot of offensive linemen and blocks. Kinlaw, I liked
14:49Kinlaw last year. Settle, I mean, is settle going to be your nose? Is he going to be a true
14:54zero
14:54techniques nose, nose tackle in a base three, four? Who knows? Johnny Newton's got to take a step
15:00forward, but they're going to have to be much better up front.
15:07And, you know, Kinlaw, I thought for the most part was consistent last year. I'm not really
15:13worried about him. And I still think Duran's got the talent to do it. And if he's going to get
15:19another
15:19contract, he's got to play well, but it will make life so much easier on Chanel and styles and players
15:27like them specifically. If they're not having to take on, you know, double teams at the next level
15:35in the run game, let the big boys up front, take on those double teams and eat up blockers and
15:43let
15:43the styles and the Chanel's and the, you know, uh, Louvoo's and the McGee's let them make the tackles.
15:52I'm going to be interested to see how quickly Sonny style sort of takes over that Bobby Wagner role in
15:59terms of the green dot communicator. I wonder if it's week one, or maybe it could be somebody like
16:05Will Harris, you know, more of a veteran. Um, you know, will he be, will he tackle like Bobby
16:11Wagner? You know, uh, for those of you that are, are thrilled that Bobby Wagner has got not coming
16:18back. There's no doubt that we got a different guy in coverage. Like they're going to be able to
16:23cover with their linebackers this year. That is a good, good upgrade. I mean, that's one thing that,
16:29you know, they're adding players on the field that can actually cover Bobby Wagner couldn't, but very
16:36few people in the league tackle like Bobby Wagner. And that was a big problem team wide with the
16:43exception of Wagner. So styles has to become that consistent tackler. He was that this year at Ohio
16:51State should all the same thing, but I liked the pick. I mean, I, I can't, um, say enough about
16:58just
16:59the idea that he was available because it didn't look like necessarily he would be, um, Bailey and
17:05Bain were the two that I loved more than any. I didn't think Bailey would be there. I figured he
17:10had to
17:10go, you know, if not second, if he were available, maybe Arizona would have picked him up. Um, who knows?
17:17Uh,
17:17but Bain's going to be the interesting one from the first round to watch for me, um, over the next
17:24few years. Cause I liked him so much. So I have something personally invested in him doing well.
17:29That's always a part of the calculus, of course, with all of us, not just on the air, but you
17:33guys
17:34do in terms of your opinions. Um, I think he went to a really good team and I haven't, I
17:39think he could
17:40end up being the best player ultimately long-term out of this draft. We'll find out. I mean, it's,
17:46you know, as we've said many times, it is much more miss than hit for everybody, uh, involved in
17:54this, but I really liked the pick. Uh, I liked the pick a lot, you know, if it had been,
17:59you know,
17:59at seven, if it had been Delaney, if it had been Tate, you know, uh, no Bain or, or, or
18:05Bailey,
18:05I would have been fine with that. Uh, I'm certain, certain that Washington had an interest in trading
18:14back. I'm not saying on the clock, you know, at seven, I'm saying going into the night, you know,
18:20given what they were likely going to be faced with at seven. Uh, and I don't think they thought
18:25Sonny Stiles would be there at seven. I think that they would have loved to have trade traded back
18:31last night. It was the most uncertain draft with respect to blue chip players and just order of
18:37selection.
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