Sonny Styles may already have one vocal supporter. During Thursday’s episode of “NFL Live,” ESPN analyst Peter Schrager made it clear he is sold on Ohio State linebacker.
Schrager did not hold back while discussing draft prospects alongside Mina Kimes, Field Yates and Laura Rutledge.
“Put it in the books right now because we all fall in love with draft prospects,” he said. “Other guys have crushes on Sydney Sweeney and Halle Berry. I am in full-blown crush mode with Sonny Styles. I love watching the highlights and I love everything I’m hearing from teams.”
Schrager also floated the idea of the New York Giants making Styles their next defensive centerpiece.
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“And the team that I’m looking at is even higher than Washington,” he added. “Where do you got? John Harbaugh’s defenses have been anchored by Ray Lewis, CJ Mosley, Roquan Smith. New York Giants sit there at number five. I just have a full blown crush myself, but I wonder if the Giants, who have always had in a hardball team, that defensive minister of defense in the middle, see Sonny Styles as that potential guy for the next 10 years there.”
The New York Giants, who are currently valued at about $10.1 billion, own the fifth selection in the 2026 draft, scheduled for April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.
On Feb. 13, head coach John Harbaugh said on the “The Mike Francesa Podcast” that the organization intends to follow a best-player-available philosophy rather than drafting strictly for need.
Styles strengthened his case on Thursday at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
The six-foot-five, 244-pound linebacker delivered one of the most explosive testing performances at his position.
His 43.5-inch vertical jump marked the highest by an off-ball linebacker at the combine since 2003 and trailed only Cameron Wake’s 45.5-inch leap among linebackers in that span, as per ESPN’s report on Thursday.
Styles also posted a 4.46-second 40-yard dash and an 11-foot-2-inch broad jump, numbers that reinforced his top-10 projection.