Sonny Styles made a notable transition at Ohio State after moving from safety to linebacker and now enters the league as a top draft pick, going No. 7 overall to the Washington Commanders. He was one of the best players in the country, helping lead the Buckeyes\u2019 defense during a historic season in which they allowed just 9.3 points per game. Beyond helping anchor one of the nation\u2019s top defenses in recent memory, he also collected several accolades along the way. Styles was a First-Team All-American this past season, served as a team captain, and won a national championship with the Buckeyes in 2024. His impact in Columbus is expected to translate to the Commanders at the next level. Here\u2019s what else to know about Styles. Stats Styles had 83 total tackles (46 solo), one sack, one forced fumble, one interception and three pass deflections at Ohio State this past season. What FOX Sports\u2019 draft analysts have said about Styles FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt ranked Styles as his No. 5 overall prospect in his top 50 rankings. He highlighted Styles\u2019 versatility, rapid rise up the draft boards, and rare athletic profile as key reasons for his high evaluation. “Styles has rocketed up draft boards,” Klatt wrote. “He was already high. Many people had this guy inside the top 15 before the combine. Now, I\u2019ve got him inside of my top five. He\u2019s the perfect linebacker for today\u2019s game because of his versatility. His first year starting at Ohio State, he was a safety. Then, he moved down to linebacker and became the Buckeyes\u2019 captain. Nobody had more respect in that locker room than Styles. He\u2019s a smart player. He can cover out of the backfield. He\u2019s a terrific tackler. He also runs like crazy. His combine was one of the great combines in history. He\u2019s 6-5, 245 pounds and ran a 4.46 40 with a 33.5-inch vertical jump. That\u2019s insane.” FOX Sports lead draft analyst Rob Rang ranked Styles as his No. 8 overall prospect in his top 150 rankings. He highlighted Styles\u2019 rare size and agility that could make him one of the more versatile defensive stars at the next level. “A former safety-turned-linebacker who might evolve into an edge rusher, Styles is the ultimate ball of clay from this draft class,” Rang wrote. “He was arguably the biggest star of the Combine, posting a remarkable 43.5-inch vertical jump and 4.46-second time in the 40-yard dash at 6-foot-5, 246 pounds. His rare size and agility could allow his future defensive coordinator to move Styles around similarly to how the\u00a0Seattle Seahawks employed star rookie\u00a0Nick Emmanwori in their\u00a0Super Bowl run.” Team Fit The Commanders needed an improvement at linebacker, especially with veteran Bobby Wagner still a free agent. Draft Grade Rang gave the pick an A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sonny Styles made a notable transition at Ohio State after moving from safety to linebacker and now enters the league as a top draft pick, going No. 7 overall to the Washington Commanders. He was one of the best players in the country, helping lead the Buckeyes\u2019 defense during a historic season in which they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}