Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles continues to be the player most often selected for the New York Giants in mock drafts. This week, Styles is the choice in 25 of 54 mock drafts in our tracker, 46.3%.
Safety Caleb Downs, Styles’ teammate at Ohio State, is the only other player drawing significant support. Downs is the choice in 10 of 54 mock drafts, 18.5%.
Here is Dane Brugler, lead draft analyst for The Athletic, talking about Styles:
“As soon as [Fernando] Mendoza’s off the board [in the draft] you’re
on Sonny Styles watch,” Brugler said. “I think he goes top five. It’s just a matter of, is it one of the New York teams?
“Sonny Styles has one of the highest floors in this draft. There’s no such thing as bust-proof. Sonny Styles might be the closest thing to bust-proof in this draft when you talk about just checking every box. It’s the athletic testing, it’s the movement skills, it’s the way his career has gone in terms of trajectory, getting better and better.
“Put all that together and I think teams are going to look at this and says, yeah, he’s an off-ball linebacker, but this guy is different.”
Isaiah Simmons 2.0?
I recently offered significant pushback against the idea that Styles was not talented enough to be selected No. 5 overall in the draft. Brugler’s assessment adds to that. I did, though, want to address the idea that Styles is Isaiah Simmons 2.0.
Drafted No. 8 overall by the Arizona Cardinals in 2020, Simmons never lived up to his billing as a potentially transformative player who could be used at multiple positions because of his tremendous athleticism.
As it turned out, Simmons could play safety, cornerback, nickel, off-ball linebacker and the edge. He just could not do any of them well.
In a pre-draft scouting report, Lance Zierlein of NFL Media said that Simmons needed to be more than a “jack-of-all-trades” in the NFL. He just never could. Mostly because he was an athlete without the required instincts, or the ability to settle at one position and do it well. Zierlein hinted at that in his scouting report:
Instincts near the line of scrimmage are a work in progress. Delayed read and respond as inside linebacker. Hasn’t figured out angles and timing as downhill linebacker yet. Needs to fill out and learn to punch and play off blocks. Has issues getting unglued from blocking tight ends. Will lose contain duties from time to time. Doesn’t have early speed burst from transitions in man. Confusion with coverage duties against North Carolina. Leggy short-area footwork in change of direction.
With Styles, this is not an issue. We know what he is, and will be. He is an off-ball linebacker — whether that ends up being a MIKE or a WILL. He has instincts. I used this the other day, but watch how quickly Styles diagnoses the run and hits the hole against Indiana. It takes instincts to do that, and to consistently show up where the ball is.
As Brugler said, no player is “bust-proof.” I would take my chances, though, that Styles will turn out to be more than just a good athlete playing football.
