Mansoor Delane seemed to think that the Washington Commanders were going to take him at No. 7 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, but the Kansas City Chiefs got in there first. However, the reality is far different.
Linebacker Sonny Styles was surprisingly falling. He dropped out of the top five, and the Commanders got a gift they were not going to waste.
And Peters left no doubt whatsoever that this was the Commanders' preferred choice if they got the chance.
Adam Peters lays out Commanders' no-brainer decision on Sonny Styles
During a conversation with Tom Pelissero and Judy Battista of the NFL Network, Peters confirmed that the decision wasn't difficult when Styles was still on the board. He didn't think it was possible, but his physical on-field attributes, glowing college references, and mindset made this a can't-miss opportunity to spearhead Washington's defensive revolution.
"Sonny checked all the boxes right away. In terms of the person, the football character, the intelligence. Everything you could want off the field. The leadership. You talk to guys at Ohio State — coaches, his teammates — who revere him as a young man. Then obviously, the specimen he is.
"He's an incredible sideline-to-sideline defender. A guy who's for today's NFL. He makes the field smaller. He can blitz, he can cover, he can tackle. He does everything really well, so for us it was a pretty easy decision when he was still on the board. We didn't have to think too hard when he was still there."
This is in keeping with how Peters viewed Styles throughout their pre-draft assessments. The general manager was gushing in his praise of the former Buckeyes' standout, and head coach Dan Quinn felt the same. Their hesitancy centered on the fact that he was widely projected to go way before Washington went on the clock, but wide receiver Carnell Tate and running back Jeremiyah Love both going in the top four flipped the narrative on its head.
Delane and safety Caleb Downs were the reported fallback options if Styles didn't make it to Washington, but they weren't needed. The Commanders got their guy without having to force the issue. And they now have a defensive linchpin to hopefully count upon for the next decade or more.
That's the best-case scenario for everyone involved.
Styles had a feeling that he would get the call from Washington. Peters duly obliged, and no amount of claims from Delane about the Commanders' sleeping while Kansas City jumped the queue will change the fact that this was always their desired outcome.
Everyone got what they wanted. And if Styles meets expectations, he'll be a franchise cornerstone in Washington for a long time.
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