Sonny Styles Addresses Expectations as Commanders First Round Draft Pick

Expectations are always the highest for those players who are projected to be great. That is a given, especially for those NFL Draft picks who are not only selected in the first round but even more so for those selected within the top 10.

For the Washington Commanders, that pressure will be on linebacker Sonny Styles, whom they took with the seventh overall pick.

The expectations will obviously be there for Styles even during his first professional season. However, when speaking with the media following his first rookie minicamp practice and as reported by 7 News DC's Scott Abraham, Styles' mindset toward expectations comes strictly from himself rather than from the outside.

Styles on High Expections

"Yeah, I think the expectations I have for myself are already high enough, so anyone else's expectations can't exceed those," exclaimed Styles. "So when you look at it like that, it's like, why would you feel pressure of anyone else? If you have high expectations for yourself and you're always attacking, striving to get better, the outside world, what they think or expect of you, doesn't really faze you."

Washington Commanders LB Sonny Styles | Washington Commanders X

Styles' words are exactly the type of mindset you want from your first-round pick. Pressure makes diamonds, and the Commanders seem to have gotten someone who is willing to accept the challenges that come with becoming one of the greats of the game.

It's great to see that Styles doesn't use the outside world's expectations of him to drive him, but rather the internal pressure he places on himself to be the best that he can be. Why worry about others when you are your own worst critic?

The Expectations

With Bobby Wagner on his way out of Washington, the Commanders drafted Styles, thinking that he could become that leader on the defensive side of the ball.

It's unknown in what capacity Styles will be deployed early on in his career, but the expectation is that his role will be pretty involved no matter what.

Taking him seventh overall tells us that, but it will be up to Styles to prove that he is deserving of being that guy in the middle of a defense that is drastically looking to get back to aggressive play after one of the worst outings in franchise history a season ago.

If Styles can navigate and lead the defense as he did at Ohio State, there is no reason not to believe he will be at the center of the turnaround, along with the other moves that the Commanders made this offseason.

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