transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:10] What up, everybody, the Commanders have selected Sonny Styles at number 7, linebacker from Ohio State. What's crazy is my final mock we did on the radio. This is exactly how I saw it going. I thought Styles would slip a bit, and I thought Washington would be able to grab him. We know Dan Quinn loves him. Adam Peters loves athletes. This dude's the freakiest athlete in this draft. He's the freakiest athlete in the history of linebacker testing. I like this pick a lot. They wanted to get younger, faster, stronger. They did it with this dude in a major way. If you think about how slow the middle of that defense was and what it is now with Styles, it's a game changer. The defense was awful. It had to get better. I know some fans wanted love. That was never happening. He went three. The owner in Arizona wanted love. So that was going to happen. And then Mitch, I know you loved Cardinal Tate. He went four, dude.

Speaker 2:
[00:59] Yeah, I was shocked he went four. I wanted him to be a commander, but I am really happy with the Sonny Styles pick. I think you look at what he brings to a defense, particularly with the types of linebackers that we know that Daronte Jones and Dan Quinn, Adam Peters, wanted to bring in, particularly after last season. And, you know, you mentioned it, but it's funny to think how far that position has come within one year. All of a sudden, it's a position of depth, it's a position of speed, and it's going to be a big part of their defense going forward.

Speaker 1:
[01:28] Yeah, man, I mean, if you look at Styles, four years at Ohio State, two years ago, the title year, 16 games, 100 tackles, 10 and a half TFLs, six sacks. These past season, the numbers dip a little, but they also played two fewer games. 82 tackles, six and a half TFLs, a sack, a pick. Do it all guy. I think he's a green dot guy right away. I think to go from Wagner to Styles, nobody's going to have Wagner's experience and understanding, but this is speed all over the field. It's a total different ball game. I think the way the draft board broke down, it's pretty damn obvious to me that Kansas City traded up to Cleveland to take Mansoor DeLane because they thought Washington was going to take them. Certainly, corner is a more premium position, but Washington did not have the chips to move up in this thing. Any of those conversations I thought were just completely silly all along. In the end, I expected they stayed at seven, took the best player they could, but what I wanted throughout was, I wanted them to take a guy that was undoubtedly the best in his position. And where they were at seven, I thought the options would be DeLane, Styles, Downs. Those are going to be, like there's no debate Downs is the best safety, there's no debate DeLane is the best corner, there's no debate Styles is the best linebacker. They got the best linebacker in this draft with the seventh overall pick. I like the move, dude. Maybe you could say Jordan Tyson, who I think just went right after them to New Orleans, right? Am I seeing that right?

Speaker 2:
[02:59] Yes, he went to New Orleans.

Speaker 1:
[03:01] Tyson scared me. Just a lot of question marks there. And I understand, like, we live in an offensive fantasy player prop world where people care about offense all the time at a significantly higher rate than defense. The defense was god-awful last year. They were terrible. They were last or next to last in almost every important statistical category. Like, you know what will help Jaden also? A better defense on the field, not having to score 30 a game. Go back to 24 when they were winning. They scored 29 points a game. That's hard to do. And I think if the defense can improve, even by 10 spots, get to a middle of the back defense. Maybe it could be more than that. But I like this. I think Daronte Jones has to like this. A really personal piece with outrageous speed. It's hard to walk away from 7 being mad. There really wasn't much I didn't want them to do. The only thing that was off the board to me was like trading up. I thought it was an incredibly stupid conversation. And had they taken a tackle, it would have been quite dumb. So there wasn't much I wasn't going to like, but I liked this move.

Speaker 2:
[04:06] Yeah, I mean, and you look at the type of player he is with the speed and the athleticism. It really matches what you have with Leo Chanel and Frankie Louvue. And whether he's learning from those guys or a third piece to that linebacking crew there, they have the types of players that we know Daronte Jones wants to have on this defense. And you couple that with the fact that Frankie Louvue was in the last year of his contract, you have a succession plan there where you're not left out in the cold if things don't work out, getting Louvue a new contract or whatever ends up happening there. But there wasn't a whole lot of options once they got to seven. I mean, it was Styles or Bain maybe was the other name that potentially they could have been looking at. But we know they love the freaky athleticism.

Speaker 1:
[04:49] I think Tyson, I think Downs.

Speaker 2:
[04:51] Downs too, yeah. But they love the RIS guys, I guess is more what I was thinking. And Styles just picks that, Styles fits that narrative perfectly. I think you look at a guy like Sonny Styles and he fits in so well with what they have at linebacker with Leo Chanel and with Frankie Louvue. You have three guys who are super athletic and get out to quarterback, can cover tight ends, can do a lot of different things in the middle of that defense. And clearly, they love the high RIS guys and Styles fits that perfectly. You couple that with the fact that Louvue is in the final year of his contract. Who knows what's going to happen after the season with him, whether they resign him or not, but you have a succession plan in place there. And more importantly, you have the middle of that defense pretty locked up.

Speaker 1:
[05:31] Yeah, man, I think it's a good pick. I wanted them to just nail the pick at 7. Like, just don't try to overthink it. Don't do too much. I do hear the detractors, that Styles' numbers maybe kind of showed up in the dip this past season and how good was that Ohio State defense. Was he a product of that or was he the reason behind it? You know, some folks get a little nervous after a monster combine changes somebody's draft status. I don't know how much it did with Styles, but I'm going to. The Ascension of Bobby Wagner for Adam Peters, he was there for the Ascension of Fred Warner. And I think both those guys are hoping that's what they've landed here. And we'll see, dude. So here's a real. So I'm in Pittsburgh. I am inside of like, Chris, say hi.

Speaker 2:
[06:22] What's up, guys?

Speaker 1:
[06:23] That's our boy Chris from LA, DC native. I am going into the press conference room to hear from Sonny, but you're in Ashburn and he'll do a Zoom call with you guys. Who do you think talks to Sonny first?

Speaker 2:
[06:37] I think you guys are going to get Sonny first. I think that isn't the order. He does national media, he does team media, podium, and then he does media.

Speaker 1:
[06:46] Generally, but I think the draft is moving so fast that it's going nuts. Also, the fast draft, tremendous work. Stop booing Roger Goodell.

Speaker 2:
[06:52] This is tremendous. Just get this thing moving. I like the Styles pick. It's a lot of fun. Make sure you check out the Beltway Football Podcast. We're going to have a longer.

Speaker 1:
[07:00] Yeah, we'll be back because we're going to hear from Adam Peters, we're going to hear from Styles. You guys will get to hear all that.

Speaker 3:
[07:05] All right, Sonny Styles pick is in the building.

Speaker 1:
[07:09] Mitch has talked to Sonny and Adam Peters. I got to have a one-on-one with Sonny. I'm here at the stadium in Pittsburgh. Kind of wanted to show everybody the look. The Steelers just picked. They just played Renegade. This place went nuts. Now the Chargers were on the clock. Oh, I like Methodist.

Speaker 3:
[07:25] Chargers was a great pick.

Speaker 1:
[07:27] Mitch, biggest takeaway is from AP talking and Styles talking.

Speaker 2:
[07:32] Yeah. I mean, you're sitting there at Hines Field. I'm sitting here in Ashburn. You can see beautiful darkness behind me, but there's the building over there, which is great. For Sonny, I think the biggest thing I took away was him talking about when he left the building here after his top 30 visit and after the Topgolf and all that, that he walked away thinking he was going to be a commander, wanting to be a commander. And I think that's something that whoever, wherever the player gets picked, they're going to be happy where they go. But I think the fact that he was able to walk out of here, excited about what they were doing here, he said, it felt like family. We hear Dan Quinn talk about brotherhood and all that stuff all the time. I think Sonny Styles really took that to heart. And it seems like he's excited, excited to be here. And with Adam Peters, we know how much he loves the athletic guys, the RIS stuff that we talked about already. But he said he's the kind of guy that you want your daughter to marry. And specifically on the football side, he talked about how you saw him improve from the beginning of the season to the end. They can see him playing all three positions, all three linebacking positions. And he's excited about all the athleticism that they have there because, you know, we talked about it. Chanel, Louvue and now Styles, it's a super athletic group.

Speaker 1:
[08:43] Absolutely. I completely agree with that. It's funny, you said, he's somebody, he'd want his daughter to marry. You remember what coach told us that about a former draft pick?

Speaker 2:
[08:57] I don't. I'm trying to even think about it.

Speaker 1:
[09:03] We had the TCU O-line coach say that about Brandon Coleman three years ago.

Speaker 2:
[09:09] There you go.

Speaker 1:
[09:10] But that's good. You want to draft good people. I think Styles being excited about the Commanders, of course, he's going to be excited wherever he went.

Speaker 2:
[09:17] Right.

Speaker 1:
[09:18] It is funny, interesting, whatever you want to call it, that he had this premonition that he was going to land in Washington. I bet DQ had the same thing. I don't think it's much of a secret, and I've reported it, said it, that Quinn really likes Styles. AP gets the freak athlete. You look at Styles with Chanal now, and they've got two super freak athletes. You know, there are detractors that are going to say the Ohio State defense was so good, was it him? Maybe that this year wasn't as good as the previous year, or is he just a combined warrior? I don't think those things are true. I got to talk to him for a minute, and he is extremely down-to-earth, chill. He just seems super locked in on football. And if you look at his background and his family, when he said this has been a dream since I was a kid, he meant it. You and I had dreams as kids, but it wasn't ever going to happen. His was working every day towards that reality, and that's who you want. My biggest thing at seven was Nail the Pick, and I wanted them to get one of the guys that was the best at their position. Could have been Delaney in Kansas City, traded up for him. You had Downs, you had Styles. Styles is the best player in his position at, and has the freakish stuff that make you take him in the top ten, whereas Downs didn't. Downs is just probably a very good player. I tell you what, I think the entire NFC East are having good-ass drafts. The Eagles just getting Makai Lemon. That was probably my favorite receiver out of the top three. I just like that like feisty style. I think, you know, I think Washington is pretty darn happy. Did AP mention at all other guys? I'm going to go back and watch the transcript, or let's watch the video, or read the transcript, one of the two. But did he mention, I'm sure people will ask him about KC moving up and Delaine and all that stuff.

Speaker 2:
[11:14] Yeah. First of all, he said he thought the first four picks, or three picks were exactly what he kind of thought they were going to be. I want to go back to, we all had our dreams growing up, JP. I don't know if I dreamed of being a podcast or YouTuber, whatever we are, but I certainly dream of talking about sports my life. So this is a dream job. But yeah, AP talked about kind of the way the draft fell to them, and was asked about whether there was any options for trade backs. And he said his phone was crickets. He's like, I was staring at my phone waiting for it to buzz and it never did. He's like, either way, it made it super easy because we love Sonny Styles and wanted to take him there. But he mentioned about the Chiefs trading up for the corner. I got to be honest, he didn't sound like he was super excited about Delain or whether he would be their pick, not that he's going to give that away at this point.

Speaker 1:
[12:04] That card's staying up his sleeve. He's not going to at all suggest that.

Speaker 2:
[12:10] I do think what's interesting was he said the first three guys off the board was what we thought. He's like the receiver, Carnell Tate. He said we had him at number four, as high as number four or down to number nine. So I think that at least internally, they seemed to rank him pretty high and thought that he had the opportunity to potentially go where he did.

Speaker 1:
[12:33] Are you bummed that Tate went so high? You feel almost validated by your evaluation?

Speaker 2:
[12:40] Yeah, I wanted to see him in the burgundy and gold. I would have loved to have seen him. We set it on our pre-draft pod. I thought that he would be an Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate, if not the Offensive Rookie of the Year, if he came to Washington. But certainly validating for the number of people who kept talking about him being an average receiver and not going to do much to see other teams value him that highly and go up to four and have him go up four. But ultimately, I think the draft fell really, really well for these guys and it was funky early. Only in that we knew there were 10-ish players that could have gone anywhere from three to 12, 13, whatever the number was. So it was going to be interesting to see how it all ended up playing out. It fell well for the commanders and honestly, I don't know that there was really a whole lot of deliberation in that room. Because when they got there, it was pretty much downs or Styles. Clearly, they love the athleticism of Styles. They love the versatility of him, his speed, his strength, all the different things he can do. When you talk about the role that he played in the Ohio State defense, which is a really good defense, I think what's great about seeing him come to Washington is he's a top 10 pick. So you expect that he's going to play right away, but there's not the pressure for him to be the guy from day one. There are two other guys who have been here and proven in the league a little bit, so he's going to have a little bit of help along the way. There's not going to be that pressure on him immediately. So I do think that they are extremely happy inside the building, and I think that he seems very excited to be here.

Speaker 1:
[14:19] They should be extremely happy. He seems extremely happy. Like, if things don't go well on your wedding night, you're not going to last in a marriage. If everybody's not happy on draft night, it's not a good start, right? Like, I think everyone should be happy here. Two questions for you. One, does it count that in my last mock I got it right to Styles? Because everybody puts out like 55 mocks. Does it count that my last one that I did yesterday, I nailed the pick with Styles?

Speaker 2:
[14:48] Sure. Right before the draft today, I put out my top three guys, and it was Tate, Bailey, Styles. With the expectation that Bailey wasn't going to be there, Tate wasn't there either, and they went with Styles. I mean, I think when we started to see kind of how this draft was going to play out.

Speaker 1:
[15:05] Very hesitant to pat me on the back there, Mitchell.

Speaker 2:
[15:08] I absolutely patted you on the back. I said it counts.

Speaker 1:
[15:10] I'm just kidding, Nick. I'm just kidding.

Speaker 2:
[15:12] Here's a virtual pat on the back, buddy. Good job.

Speaker 1:
[15:15] Here's my other thing.

Speaker 2:
[15:17] What's your-

Speaker 1:
[15:18] Jordan Tyson goes right after.

Speaker 2:
[15:19] Oh, that was the two things I was going to bring up. Tyson going right after them.

Speaker 1:
[15:22] Jordan Tyson goes right after them.

Speaker 2:
[15:23] Dan going to-

Speaker 1:
[15:24] They are going to be- So actually, I said on radio today, I thought Downs was going to slide out of the top 10. I think the size stuff, but you know what I mean, like not running, no wrasse, all that stuff was going to impact it a little bit. But I think Tyson goes right after them. There's going to be a subset of people that will say, you got to help Jaden. You didn't help Jaden. I do think they almost have to go wide receiver at 71. That's it. Maybe they move around something.

Speaker 2:
[15:53] Who knows?

Speaker 1:
[15:54] But do you believe they should have known Tyson? I do not, but I'm curious of you, Bill.

Speaker 2:
[16:03] Yeah. I wanted them to go get a receiver. Tyson wasn't the guy that I wanted them to go get. I think the reason that I had Tate so much higher in my mind than Tyson was the ability to do it all and the ability to stay healthy. And the fact they did it against the top talent in college football. And as far as Tyson goes, A, the injuries were overly worrying for me, particularly for this team that dealt with that.

Speaker 1:
[16:34] He missed a third of his college career.

Speaker 2:
[16:37] And I don't want to talk disparagingly about his college career because it was only a third of it or so. But you look at the teams that he had big games against and I keep going back to that. I want to see these guys beat up on the big time prospects. And certainly, there's a group of people that are going to say, well, Tate was the number two at Ohio State, so he was getting the number two corners and all that. Certainly fair. But the number two corners at Michigan and Notre Dame and these other top schools are NFL prospects, or first, second round NFL prospects as well. So either way, I was out on it.

Speaker 1:
[17:14] In Texas defense though, he did have a monster game against Texas Tech. And that Texas Tech defense was right there with Miami and Ohio State, I would say.

Speaker 2:
[17:21] Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1:
[17:22] I mean, I think he went for like 10 for one 10 in a touchdown or something. Like if you want to put the Tyson highlights on, that to me would be it. That's also the game he got hurt. And of the three different injuries he had in college, one was a knee, which is a red flag to me. One was a collarbone, which I can kind of dismiss. Like that's your collarbone should heal, you should come back. And then the lingering hanny stuff last year gives me pause. Obviously enough teams did the medicals on it and are cool, but Styles looks like the guy. And Tyson is a question mark. I didn't want them to leave the top ten with a question mark. Even if Tyson might emerge as JSN, who knows? But I'm cool with it.

Speaker 2:
[18:09] I think, like you said, I think it does lock this team in the receiver at 71. Almost, you know, I think it's almost a slam dunk that that happens now. Obviously, you got to see who's there and you know what happens around them. But with the lack of draft capital, there's not a ton of room for this team to really move a whole lot. We've talked about, you know, in our Beltway football mock draft, I think you had downs at 10 and then you had the Georgia State kid at 71. There's a couple of receivers who feel like they're going to go right around in that area. And I think that's going to be something to keep an eye on. And if there ends up a run of receivers kind of at the end of that second round, do we see them maybe package, you know, that sixth round pick that they got for Bryan Robinson last year and maybe try and move up and get in on that run. But either way, this team needs to add a wide receiver. I've put an exclamation point on Brandon Iyuk, on not having Brandon Iyuk discussions, but the video that he posted this week where didn't look particularly in shape and whatever else wasn't a great look for him as far as, you know, forming confidence in somebody who's going to make a move for him. So I think that you need to add a wide receiver. That's the number one place that this team needs to add. It's the biggest hole on this team right now. And I think they have to use that third round pick on it.

Speaker 1:
[19:36] I also think we've got to approach the IU conversation more honestly. He's a scratch off ticket at this point. You have no idea what that is. So like this assumption that he rolls in and he's a 1200 yard guy, I think it's nuts. Now, like two years ago, every scratch off ticket Adam Peters played hit jackpots. Last year, they tried the same thing that didn't hit. So like in all the conversations last year about like, oh, they only keep adding veterans to one year deals. That's going to be the same thing with IU. So even if the Niners release IU tomorrow morning and Washington signs them before the second round starts, I think you still have to draft a wide receiver.

Speaker 2:
[20:15] Yeah, I agree. Caleb Downs was a name that a lot of Commanders fans are super excited about. Again, Beltway mock draft you Adam at 10. Yeah. What are your thoughts on him going?

Speaker 1:
[20:27] Adam at seven, I thought.

Speaker 2:
[20:28] I mean, at seven, I'm sorry. Of him being in division and going to the Cowboys and how much pause does that give you? I mean, the Cowboys were going to get a good player regardless, so it could have been any number of guys. I like for us, for the Commanders, that the Cowboys didn't move up and get somebody earlier, maybe better. But certainly, it's something that he's going to be in Dallas and they're going to see him twice a year. I think there's going to be a lot of Commanders fans that, as much as you talked about Jordan Tyson being compared to Sonny Styles, I think there's going to be a lot of Caleb Downs and Sonny Styles comparisons as well.

Speaker 1:
[21:05] Yeah, maybe. I don't think that if Downs is good, it's going to matter as long as Styles is good.

Speaker 2:
[21:13] You know what I mean?

Speaker 1:
[21:15] And they're both good players. Look at the Command Center crew rolling out of here.

Speaker 2:
[21:19] Hey, what's up, boys?

Speaker 1:
[21:22] I think everybody's happy.

Speaker 2:
[21:23] How are we feeling, B?

Speaker 1:
[21:26] He's happy. He can't hear you because I have headphones on.

Speaker 2:
[21:28] All I saw was the shiny Super Bowl ring as he gave me a spits bump.

Speaker 1:
[21:34] He was threatening me with that Super Bowl ring last night. He said, I'm going to put an imprint right in my forehead.

Speaker 2:
[21:39] Not the first time that he's made that threat to either of us. So both come out with an imprintless.

Speaker 1:
[21:44] Big man, you know we've... State Travels, fellas, you know it's been a tough week for me and we'll get into that at some pod later in the future. But, you know, I got up here last night, not late, but like 8.30, went and got dinner and then went for one with me and one turned into a few at the hotel lobby there. Shocking.

Speaker 2:
[22:05] I saw you post a picture of your favorite place in the world, Breezewood.

Speaker 1:
[22:10] The congressman or state delegate, but whoever is responsible for keeping that town afloat and not having the highways just connect will always be an enemy to me. Why the highways don't connect makes no sense and it's clearly because some Breezewood official paid, lobbied, whatever the term is to make that town relevant. Everybody has to get off the damn highway. I hate it so much. I know people feel otherwise. A lot of people love Breezewood, not me.

Speaker 2:
[22:42] I got something real quick for you. Yesterday morning, I played around the golf with my younger brother, Russell. Guess who the third in our group was?

Speaker 1:
[22:52] You, Russ? Where were you?

Speaker 2:
[22:55] We were at University of Maryland. A third person walked up to the T-box and jumped on my shoulders. I walked up to the first T with us and jumped on my shoulders. Any guesses?

Speaker 1:
[23:06] This relates to Breezewood somehow?

Speaker 2:
[23:09] It relates to the podcast.

Speaker 1:
[23:13] Mike Miller.

Speaker 2:
[23:14] Pete MFing Hailey.

Speaker 1:
[23:16] Oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:
[23:17] Like the most random of random things. Pete turned up and we played 18 holes together yesterday. It was great.

Speaker 1:
[23:24] Who won?

Speaker 2:
[23:26] I think Pete won. It was my worst 18 in the last two years.

Speaker 1:
[23:32] Coming off the 70 at Needwood.

Speaker 2:
[23:34] 82 at Needwood, yeah. But it was ugly. I think I had a 51 on the front and ended at 94, 95, 96, somewhere in there. It was an ugly round. But Pete was on fire with his putter. I think Pete probably shot about 88, 90 or so. It was a rough day for all of us, but it was fun being out there with them and hanging out.

Speaker 1:
[23:58] That's awesome, man. I'm jealous. I would have loved to do that. Last time I played golf, I shot a 97, so I don't feel bad. I think all in all, it's a good night here.

Speaker 2:
[24:07] You know what I mean? Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[24:10] I thought they were going to stay in pick. They stayed in pick. I thought they should draft the best player available at a position. They did. They wanted to get younger, faster, stronger. They did that with that pick significantly. As much as there's excitement about Chanal and Owe, this is a young man who's possibly here for five seasons. You have certainty in styles. So I don't think there's a lot of Commanders fans concerned about the pick. I hear where those could come from. Did he just show up at the combine and that is why this happened? Is it a byproduct of Ohio State? There's a lot of reasons it could be, but these Ohio State dudes tend to be pretty damn good, dude.

Speaker 2:
[24:55] To be honest, we talked about Styles back at the combine before he ran, before he did everything, and we thought he was around the 10th picker. We thought he was around the top 10 picks. It's not like he was a mid to late first rounder that just shot up the boards because he scored super high in the RAS, the Relative Athletic Score.

Speaker 1:
[25:17] Yeah, he was the top 15 pick already. Dude, it's similar to DeLane. DeLane was the number one corner, but he became sixth overall because he ran 4-3 in Baton Rouge. Some of that stuff, guys are going to have evaluations and they're going to like a player. Then sometimes the combine can just add to it. Me always brings up Mike Muller, who was this combine freak coming out of Boston College.

Speaker 2:
[25:40] We're going back to the 90s.

Speaker 1:
[25:41] But there wasn't anything to support it. You didn't put the tape on and be like, wow, there weren't stats. I would suggest to the people that are concerned about the styles, look at the numbers. Watch the 24 tape.

Speaker 2:
[25:55] Hand up. We can laugh about John Ross. I loved him. He was a combine warrior. You know, super fast 40. I also steak dinner to you over that. I think if you're not walking away from tonight with optimism, they brought in a defensive player for one of the best defensive players in the draft for a defense that needed to improve dramatically from last season to this season. Adam Peters talked about wanting to add size, power, speed. It's hard to argue that Sonny Styles doesn't check all three of those boxes. I think it's a good pick. We'll see how it plays on the field. I think they did a good job of bringing in somebody who can help them right away at a big position in need.

Speaker 1:
[26:38] We're back tomorrow, tomorrow night, right? I think we're both thinking receiver at 71. You never know. The good thing is you're a deep receiver class. I've talked about Ted Hurst. It's entirely possible he might be gone. You have a couple of guys you're circling at 71, hopeful of.

Speaker 2:
[27:00] You know, I've been high on Jagger Burton. I don't think 71 is too high for him, but maybe if they move back.

Speaker 1:
[27:09] Are you talking about the center?

Speaker 2:
[27:11] Yeah, of course. I'm always going to bring up the center. I want them to reset that center.

Speaker 1:
[27:14] I said, is you're a receiver, you look.

Speaker 2:
[27:16] I know you said receiver and I decided to take it the direction I wanted to take it in. Ted Hurst is my number one guy of that group of receivers, so I'll stick there with him. But I wonder if maybe there's a, you know, move back to the middle of the third round and add another, you know, fifth round or something like that with it, if they feel like there's still another guy on the board that can help them there.

Speaker 1:
[27:41] I like Hurst, obviously. I like Chris Bell, the Louisville kid who was going to be coming off an injury. My guy Marcus Washington comes on radio with us every year to make some picks. He told me, this dude should be on your radar. What's your Dijon Stribbling file?

Speaker 2:
[28:00] Not high, not much.

Speaker 1:
[28:02] Ole Miss kid, ran a 4-3, but I mean true burner, but he also plays pretty, like plays powerball. Not a ton of wiggle, but I think he's a vertical threat for you. But dude, 4-3-6, 36-inch vertical and a 10-7 broad. I'm just saying for you, you have a type. That's kind of your type, dog. 6'2.

Speaker 2:
[28:30] Chris Bell fits that mold pretty well as well. He's 6'2, as well, 220.

Speaker 1:
[28:36] The injury question is there.

Speaker 2:
[28:38] But the injury question is, and maybe with the...

Speaker 1:
[28:41] I like Sarat, I like Razzle, there's guys.

Speaker 2:
[28:46] There are guys there and with the Chris Bell injury and taking a player in the third round with an injury or taking a player at number 7 overall with an injury are two totally different worlds for me. But, you know, medicals look like on that kid because he would have been a first-rounder had he not gotten hurt. And, you know, that's something that he's going to be, you know, he's a fast dude, he runs a deep ball well. I actually, you see the coach, I don't know if you can see them, but the coaches and front office are getting ready to walk out the door behind me right now. You can hear a little bit of a lot happening back there. They're excited.

Speaker 1:
[29:23] Good. And there's another one tomorrow. Real quick, Ty Simpson and the Rams, huh?

Speaker 2:
[29:30] Sean McVeigh, F those picks. The guy he wanted was there at 13. He said, forget it, I'm going to take him.

Speaker 1:
[29:37] Well, I think two things, Willie. I think Simpson, if we have this conversation on Halloween, if you said, you know, when did he go, 13 or 14? If we said Simpson's going, oh, look it, real quick, you went 13.

Speaker 2:
[29:50] You went 13, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[29:52] On Halloween, if that was the conversation, we'd be like, yeah, I get it. He balled out the first two months of Bama. Second half of the season, he wasn't nearly as good. He did have that gutty performance in the comeback playoff win in the first round. I also, the fact that they were able to talk to Simpson and be like, yo, you're coming in here as a backup to Stafford. To learn, this is a long-term thing. I think two things. I think one, obviously, he's cooler. But two, the fact that that didn't leak, tells you something about Simpson. I think that something was probably important to Sean. I don't know, man. We'll see.

Speaker 2:
[30:35] I really like the idea, if you don't get a quarter.

Speaker 1:
[30:37] I also don't think they'll be at 13 again. You know what I mean? That was because they actually made a trade that got them a pick.

Speaker 2:
[30:45] I also really like if a quarterback doesn't go top five, not pressing him into being a starter right away. Obviously, there are outliers. But I think to me, it seems like a really good situation. A, McVeigh's offense is awesome and very quarterback-friendly. B, I don't know what better quarterback there is in the NFL right now that you could spend a year learning under than Matt Stafford. To me, I'm not saying that he's the absolute best quarterback in the league, but I don't know that there's a vet that you could sit there and learn under, that I'd be more excited about if I was a young rookie quarterback coming into a situation, because that's a really great opportunity for him. Clearly, they have an idea of what Stafford's timeline is. We saw the back injuries last year before the season, all those different things. They're preparing for life after Stafford. When you have a team that's as built as their team is now, that's a great place to be, to start being able to draft for next year, two years, three years, four years.

Speaker 1:
[31:49] I got to go here, but you'll laugh at this. Behind the curtain for people who don't know how the media works, any NFL event you go to, there's what's called frequency coordination. You can see that above my head right there. What that means is anybody that's using wireless microphones, you have to tell the league, I guess they tell you what frequency you get, so everybody's not on the same frequency. I'm sitting at this table because the frequency coordinators have been long gone. But some dude just walked up to me and couldn't tell we were recording this podcast, and definitely had a question, and I was like, so that was why I was waiting that guy on. Can you imagine somebody worse equipped to help that dude with whatever his question was?

Speaker 2:
[32:33] There's nobody worse equipped. You would have loved it in the room today. I was troubleshooting Internet for folks. I was helping folks figure out Twitter and getting the TV set up for everybody. So we both are.

Speaker 1:
[32:45] I saw on the text thread there was some angst.

Speaker 2:
[32:47] There's some remote angst. Multimedia digital world for both of us.

Speaker 1:
[32:51] There you go.

Speaker 2:
[32:51] Media made it. Yep, we'll be back tomorrow.

Speaker 1:
[32:54] We're back tomorrow night, whatever they make you pick, basically. Going to be fun. Sonny Styles, Washington Commander, made it as far as I remember.

Speaker 4:
[33:04] Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Speaker 3:
[33:05] So you said on TV that you had a really good feeling when you were here. What was it that stood out to you about this place and having that good feeling?

Speaker 4:
[33:15] Yeah, I mean, I think you just come in the building, there's great people, great vibes. Coming to the building, Coach Norton, he's bringing a bunch of juice to LB Coach. So everything just felt right. All the way to Coach Jones, DC, Coach Quinn, Mr. Peters, every meeting just felt like it was it. I left the building that day and I was like, man, I feel like I'm going to be commander. So now I'm excited to happen. It's the perfect place to be.

Speaker 5:
[33:39] You said you learned more about Coach Norton and all that he accomplished as a player. What was your conversations like with him and with defensive coordinator, Daronte Jones?

Speaker 4:
[33:49] Man, it was great. Coach Norton, he has a lot of belief in me. I think the biggest thing that we talked about, he talked about, I'm only scratching the surface. Despite, I think I had a solid career, but he knows there's still so much more to unlock. I appreciate him for believing me. I think Coach Jones, man, he just talked a lot to him, talked to him at the building, at Topgolf, spent a lot of time talking, just talking ball, learning about me. I just felt like the people in the building really believed in me.

Speaker 3:
[34:15] Where did you make the biggest jump as a linebacker last year?

Speaker 4:
[34:19] I think I really improved on tackling. I missed quite a few times in my junior year, and obviously the name of the game as a backer is you get the ball on the ground. And I thought my block discretion got a lot better from junior, senior, but still a lot more work to do. Like I said, there's so much more to unlock.

Speaker 6:
[34:34] Sonny, making that move to linebacker, what was the kind of the biggest challenge you faced in that?

Speaker 4:
[34:39] I mean, you're used to, when I was at safety, you're 10 yards away from the ball. Things are happening a little slower. You got more time and space to make things happen. Now you're moving to five yards. Now things are happening faster. Now you get off blocks, make tackles, the offensive linebacker climbing to you. So I was just in adjustment, really, just being close to the ball, things are happening faster. And then probably my footwork, being a linebacker footwork is crucial. If you're late, you're done. So I think that was something I really had to work on. My feet getting right, and still something I'm still trying to work on, get better at.

Speaker 7:
[35:08] Hey Sonny, when you put on that hat today, what was going through your mind as now you're a Washington commander?

Speaker 4:
[35:15] So much joy, so much joy, so blessed. You know, I told my whole family this morning, I was like, I'm going to be a commander. And like, no one really thought so. I just had this feeling. You know, I'm super excited. You know, I love this organization. I love the people. You know, I walked away from that building. I told one of my teammates, like what was different by watching? I said, the people in the building, just a bunch of great people. So I'm super excited to be a part of that.

Speaker 2:
[35:39] Hey, Sonny, what was that phone call like when the phone rang?

Speaker 4:
[35:43] Well, I couldn't believe it at first. It said spam risk. I got nervous. I showed up, my agent, he's like, you're good. And I answered the phone to Mr. Peters. That was amazing. Talk to him, talk to Coach Quinn, Mr. Harris, the owner. It was awesome. Super blessed. I told Coach Quinn on the phone before I left. Before I left the visit, I told him, I said, hopefully, I'll be back soon. So I was like, we were on the phone. I was like, Coach, I told you.

Speaker 8:
[36:09] Sonny, when you were here, what did the coaches say to you that they really saw you as? What was their vision for you?

Speaker 4:
[36:18] I think, especially with Coach Norton and Coach DJ, they see me be able to do multiple roles, whether it be Mike, Will, or Sam. They think I do all three at a high level, and just based on what we have in the room, I think they're going to try and find the best position for me possible to help the team win. I know we got a lot of other talented guys in the room as well.

Speaker 9:
[36:35] Sonny, they're really overhauling the defense, and you're obviously a big part of that going forward. I just wonder, your ability to lead people and to lead men now, you have to lead grown men now, what are your strengths there and what are you looking forward to trying to do with that?

Speaker 4:
[36:51] I think I'm a natural people person, but I think the biggest thing coming in as a rookie, you're not just going to immediately be a leader, it's more so by the way you work, earn the respect of everyone around you by showing up to work every day, doing what you're supposed to, great attitude, great energy, doing your job, especially when you get out there for OTAs, things like that, knowing my playbook and all those things, I think that's going to earn the respect of the vets. And eventually, if I do become like the green dot guy, if that were to happen, yeah, you got to be able to lead the guys, that's kind of part of the job, so I'm willing to do that for sure.

Speaker 6:
[37:22] Sonny, for those unfamiliar with the tradition, the jersey number you wore at Ohio State, can you kind of explain what goes into that?

Speaker 4:
[37:29] Yeah, Blocko recipient, it's after Bill Willis, one of the first African-American players in the NFL. Coach Paul Brown actually drafted him, so it's pretty cool, he's an Ohio State coach, obviously a legend. So it's really after an integrity character, the kind of teammate you are, the kind of person you are, it really has nothing to do with who you are off the field. And getting that number my last year, it meant the world to me because my freshman year I came in, seeing guys like Cam Bab, Xavier Johnson, Cody Simon. I looked up to those guys through my first three years, and I was hoping I could aspire to be like those men, just who they were off the field. And then to get that number my last year, it was just a blessing, it was a full circle moment. I was hoping I could be an inspiration to a younger guy in our locker room this past year.

Speaker 7:
[38:11] Hey Sonny, you get to know the Washington fan base, they get to know you. What are the things that you want them to know about you?

Speaker 4:
[38:20] Oh man, I'm super excited and I love ball. I'm a football junkie, so I'm going to put my all into it. I'm going to get better each and every week. I'm obsessed with winning and I'm going to bring great energy to the building. I'm just super excited to get to work. I think I really believe in this organization and I'm glad they believe in me, so I'm ready.

Speaker 9:
[38:40] All good?

Speaker 4:
[38:41] Thanks, Sonny. Thank you. Appreciate you all.