{"id":897786,"date":"2026-05-22T02:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T02:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/897786\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T02:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T02:24:20","slug":"espn-sets-a-high-bar-for-sonny-styles-rookie-year-that-would-help-commanders-defense-take-a-major-step-forward-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/897786\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN sets a high bar for Sonny Styles’ rookie year that would help Commanders defense take a major step forward in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of people think Sonny Styles will immediately help the Commanders defense thanks to his abilities and future usage under Daronte Jones. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"ESPN
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSonny Styles catches a pass during Commanders rookie minicamp. Photo Credit: Kourtney Carroll\/Washington Commanders<\/p>\n

Sonny Styles is considered to be one of the most promising rookies<\/a> from the 2026 draft class. Especially when theorizing his future role in the Washington Commanders defense. <\/p>\n

Count ESPN\u2019s Mike Clay as a believer. The senior writer recently put out 2026 regular season projections for all of the top rookies at their respective positions and he has Styles\u2019 inaugural season in top-6 territory when it comes to the amount of tackles he\u2019ll rack up.<\/p>\n

Clay projects 123 total tackles for Styles in 2026 and went into context as to why this kind of production would rank among some of the best rookie linebacker seasons of all-time:<\/p>\n

\u201cShaquille Leonard\u2019s 163 tackles in 2018 are the most by a rookie over the past decade, though he is one of only four rookies (all picked in the first two rounds) to reach 125 during the span. In fact, zero rookies reached 100 tackles in 2023 or 2024 prior to three (Carson Schwesinger, Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter) hitting that total in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cStyles\u2019 projection is a big one, as 122 would be sixth most among rookies over the past decade. The large number isn\u2019t by accident, as the No. 7 overall pick is expected to replace Bobby Wagner as a near-every-down player in the middle of Washington\u2019s defense.\u201d \u2013 Mike Clay, ESPN<\/a><\/p>\n

This kind of production would be vital for the Commanders\u2019 defensive turnaround<\/p>\n

The Commanders defense really needs Styles to hit the ground running. This kind of production would exemplify that. For instance, 123 tackles would\u2019ve tied Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun for 24th among all linebackers, last year.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t even include the other potential splash plays like interceptions, forced fumbles, sacks, tackles for loss, and other stats. It\u2019s safe to assume a season where a player records 123 tackles makes other plays on the ball, a well.<\/p>\n

Regardless, it\u2019s clear plenty of people believe in Styles and he can be the centerpiece of the Commanders defense for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lot of people think Sonny Styles will immediately help the Commanders defense thanks to his abilities and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,2239,855,111,2480],"class_list":["post-897786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-sonny-styles","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116615857359676349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897786","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=897786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}