The first two days of the NFL Combine are in the books as the defensive players have finished their workouts. The biggest winner of the first two days was Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles who dominated the event sending his already high NFL Draft stock through the moon. Styles entered the event as an almost guaranteed 1st Round Pick, but now he's a likely Top 10 pick.
Linebacker is often a position that teams shy away from picking early with the positional value argument. Sonny Styles should be the linebacker that teams ignore the rules for as he's arguably the best player regardless of position in this draft.
These 3 teams should sprint to the podium to draft Sonny Styles
Washington Commanders
Dan Quinn will enter the 2026 season with a ton of pressure after an underwhelming season by the Commanders. The defense needs to get younger as the veteran pieces started to show their age last season. Sonny Styles could be the young nucleus for this defense moving forward, and if Bobby Wagner returns he'd be a great mentor for Styles to learn from.
New York Giants
The New York Giants have an exciting defensive front with stars in Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, and Abdul Carter. The team could use help at linebacker as Bobby Okereke is in the final year of his contract, and could be a player the team moves on from. John Harbaugh's defense always has an elite linebacker, and Styles would be set up to succeed as a rookie.
Tennessee Titans
Robert Saleh takes over the Tennessee Titans, and while the team will need to build around Cam Ward, the pieces need to be in place for the new defense. In San Francisco, Saleh had linebacker Fred Warner while at the Jets he signed CJ Mosley and Quincy Williams. Sonny Styles could be the Titans star in the middle helping run Saleh's scheme for a long time.