{"id":865569,"date":"2026-04-13T15:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865569\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T15:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:38:12","slug":"rams-2026-draft-l-a-could-draft-son-of-stl-super-bowl-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865569\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams 2026 draft: L.A. could draft son of STL Super Bowl winner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">Styles is an immediate upgrade over Omar Speights and continues to improve the level of the back seven. Sitting at the 13th overall pick, there is a better chance of moving up inside the top-10 for a premier talent than there has been in past years. A big reason why the Rams were unable to get a deal done with the Panthers last season was because a drop from eighth overall to 26 is significant. The Rams won\u2019t have that roadblock this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The 6\u20195, 244 lbs linebacker ran a 4.46 and leaped 43.5\u201d vertical and 11\u20192 broad-wise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">Styles began his Ohio State career as a safety, but he settled in at linebacker in 2024. He\u2019s improved in diagnosing play development. The former Buckeye diffuses block attempts with crisp hand strikes and leverages run fits with force\/anchor strength. There are times when he slips back into a containment-based approach, but he has plenty of short-area quickness and pursuit speed to get where he needs to go. He can make an impact from multiple spots on the field and is a plus man-cover talent. Styles is an emerging player with the traits and versatility to garner longer looks by NFL evaluators. He could see his stock soar leading up to draft day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Being compared to Warner is a far stretch better than if Sonny was compared to Papa: Lorenzo Styles was a third round pick in 1995 by the Falcons, also out of Ohio State, but his career as a starter never materialized.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">After two seasons with Atlanta, Styles was traded to the Rams as a player that the new coaching staff led by Dick Vermeil would hope could blossom in a new situation. However, Styles appeared in only 10 games over the first two seasons with St. Louis and then in 1999 the team found out that this guy named London Fletcher was pretty good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Though Styles played in all 16 games, he made zero starts and had 18 tackles. He had one tackle in each playoff game that year as well, including the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Rams did finally ask Styles to start five games in 2000, but that would end up being his final career NFL season. He went on to do some coaching at the lower levels, but his real legacy now lives on in his son Sonny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">A first rounder at this position would step in as a Day 1 starter and instantly upgrade the defense. Prospects with sideline-to-sideline speed and coverage ability would fill a noticeable gap in the Rams\u2019 front seven. If Sonny Styles drops, the Rams will likely be racing to the podium to add him to their young and budding defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Few expect Sonny Styles to make it to pick 13. But if the Rams want a little bit of \u201899 mojo with a player who is miles better as a prospect who is father was 31 years ago, you couldn\u2019t do better than the ultimate son, Sonny Styles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Styles is an immediate upgrade over Omar Speights and continues to improve the level of the back seven.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,2619,16484,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-865569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams-draft","12":"tag-los-angeles-rams-mock-drafts","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangelesrams","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116398147434146028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}