Sonny Styles is an athletic, rangy defensive prospect whose well-rounded skillset and natural gifts make him a plug-and-play starter as a three-down WILL linebacker. 

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​Styles was a 5-star recruit and a top 15 player in the 2022 recruiting class as a safety, choosing Ohio State over Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State, Ole Miss, and Michigan State, among others. He comes from NFL pedigree, with his father being former NFL LB Lorenzo Styles. He would eventually convert to linebacker at Ohio State, where he would earn second-team All-Big 10 Honors and a CFP National Championship in 2024. Styles burst onto the scene in 2025, missing just two tackles all season, and earning first-team All-American and first-team All-Big 10 honors. 

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The greatest strength of Styles' game is his athletic yet coordinated movement skills despite having nearly an outlier frame for an off-ball linebacker. Styles has all the requisite athletic traits of an elite NFL linebacker, but has them in a lengthy frame that affords him expanded range to make tackles, shut down passing lanes, discard run blockers, and win as a pass rusher. He has sideline-to-sideline speed, but his patient eyes, in confluence with his acceleration/deceleration ability, prevent him from overrunning gaps; the 2025 film shows a linebacker who is almost always in the right place at the right time. Styles possesses surprisingly powerful hands, physicality, and improved overall strength to stack and shed blocks. There's a rep in the Miami game where, even though he missed the tackle shortly after, he reads, attacks, and knocks 6'9", 330lb Markel Bell on his heels before disengaging and going for the ball carrier. Outside of that rep, as a tackler, Styles is elite. Watching the Indiana and Illinois games, it's clear that Styles possesses a controlled downhill physicality that, when combined with his IQ and gifted frame, affords him elite stopping power and immense reliability taking down ball carriers. It makes sense that Styles is a former safety, as he's above average in both zone and man coverage. Styles rarely allows any additional yards after the catch and closes downhill quickly to neutralize checkdowns before they can pick up a chunk of yards. Styles' instincts in zone coverage are good, but there is room to improve his overall route recognition and awareness--I believe this will come with more experience and coaching. ​

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There are very few glaring knocks on Sonny Styles' game. In the Miami game, he missed two tackles, but those were his only missed tackles all season. A bit more concerning is that he gave up his only touchdown in coverage of the season that game, allowing Mark Fletcher Jr. to leak wide open out of the backfield because he bit on a fake QB power. While Styles has excellent processing ability coming downhill, his laser focus on where he needs to attack can hurt his recovery ability versus play action. It's worth noting that while I'd place Styles in the great to elite range as a stack and shedder, he was engaged and washed out of the play a handful of times by Francis Mauigoa in the Miami game. I don't think these issues from the Miami game are something that will consistently ail him in the NFL, however, as these are a drop in the bucket of otherwise elite film he put out during the 2025 season.

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Sonny Styles projects best in the NFL as a WILL linebacker, but he's a rare prospect who is so good and so well-rounded that he possesses All-Pro, green dot potential as the leader and stalwart of an NFL defense. I'd like to see him land on a team in need of his presence, specifically the Cowboys, Buccaneers, or Giants (somehow). 

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Grade: early 1st round

Archetype: Prototype Modern Off-Ball Linebacker

High-End Pro Comparison: rangier Jack Campbell

Low-End Pro Comparison: Anthony Barr