{"id":878631,"date":"2026-04-30T11:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878631\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:12:22","slug":"commanders-nfl-draft-class-realistic-sonny-styles-expectations-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878631\/","title":{"rendered":"Commanders NFL draft class: Realistic Sonny Styles expectations in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Editor\u2019s note: Everyone\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hogshaven.com\/draft\/412153\/commanders-draft-grades-smart-draft-earns-good-grades-for-washington\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">excited about the Commanders\u2019 NFL Draft haul<\/a>. Rightfully so. That doesn\u2019t mean each selection will slot into a prominent role as a rookie. We\u2019ll discuss realistic expectations for each player over the next few days, leading into Commanders rookie minicamp. We\u2019ll get started, naturally, with a certain off-the-ball linebacker from Ohio State: <\/p>\n<p>LB Sonny Styles, Ohio State <\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Height\/Weight: 6-foot-5\/244 pounds<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">What Adam Peters said: \u201cSonny\u2019s a guy who can play off the ball. He can play on the ball. He can mug up and blitz. There are so many different things he can do. He could play, MIKE, play WILL, play SAM, all those different things. He\u2019s got the size to play on the edge. He\u2019s really versatile. And so, we can kind of mix and match and deploy those guys and play as many linebackers as we can on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Prominent members of the position group*: Leo Chenal, Frankie Luvu, Jordan Magee, Kain Medrano<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Perfect-world expectations: That Styles plays all three downs, all season long and is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/nfl\/2026-27-nfl-defensive-rookie-year-odds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">a serious defensive rookie of the year contender<\/a>. The individual stats are way up, coverage on the interior is lock-down \u2013 especially against tight ends and running backs \u2013 and his freakish athleticism translates to consistently quality play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Real-world expectations: There\u2019s little doubt in Styles\u2019 ability to play quality NFL football, but those endeavors often take time, even for top picks. That\u2019s especially true for a converted safety with just two years at his new position, which requires fast processing and high football IQ. Growing pains are fair and understandable, especially when NFL offensive coordinators start putting him in binds while forcing him to make difficult decisions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">A solid stat line remains a fair expectation, as is his position in the starting lineup. There are enough quality linebackers with different styles to use Styles as a roving chess piece as Peters suggested above. Styles should have a solid rookie season, even though his best will be yet to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">What would you consider realistic expectations for Sonny Styles in his rookie year? Let us know in the comments below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Everyone\u2019s excited about the Commanders\u2019 NFL Draft haul. Rightfully so. That doesn\u2019t mean each selection will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,15,855,111,1267,2480],"class_list":["post-878631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washington-commanders-draft","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116493362356410527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878631","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=878631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}