The NFL Combine is happening this week, and it's the start of the NFL Draft season. Some players can make a big jump based on their performance, and one of them is Ohio State football linebacker Sonny Styles, given his potential to impress physically after he announced his entry into the NFL Draft. He has already been impressive in training, but if he impresses in an official setting, he will shoot up draft boards.
NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero was asked about which players could improve their draft stock the most, and he named players like Ty Simpson, Sonny Styles, and Jeremiyah Love as the biggest names to keep an eye on. Styles has the biggest potential to blow away testing because of his raw athleticism and physicality.
“If there is one player in this setting, in these drills and the testing portions that is going to blow people away, I would say that it might be Styles,” Pelissero said. “He is a big, rangy linebacker; he is going to weigh in the low 240s, and he is going to test really well if he backs up what he’s been doing so far in training.”
Ohio State also has linebacker Arvell Reese testing at the combine, doing position drills, and, according to Pelissero, he is “likely” to run the 40-yard dash.
One reason Styles has stood out as an interesting prospect is that he moved from safety to linebacker at the start of the 2024 season. He had 183 total tackles, 95 solos, seven sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and an interception over those two seasons at linebacker.
Linebackers will work out at the NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday night. Thursday is the first day of workouts, but linebackers are the last position group, so the two Ohio State defensive stars will most likely take the field later because of that schedule.
The NFL Combine always features players who impress and shoot up draft boards with their raw athleticism. Pelissero is not wrong when he says that one of the best candidates to do that is Styles, given his versatility and what he has already shown.
