Ohio State’s LB Sonny Styles Impresses Scouts At NFL Combine

Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles performed in the NFL combine on Thursday and caught the eye of many after destroying the combine.

Styles, a projected top-10 pick in this year’s NFL draft, put up one of the best vertical jumps for a linebacker in over two decades. 43½-inch vertical jump is the highest by an off-ball linebacker since 2003 and the highest by any linebacker since Cameron Wake did a 45½-inch jump in 2005.

The linebacker measured in at 6-foot-5 and 244 pounds, as Styles is ranked 7th on ESPN’s Mel Kiper’s big board. Styles ran a 4.46 40-yard dash, which was the same time as his college teammate, Arvell Reese, who had the combine’s best time so far. Styles had an 11-foot-2 broad jump and stoodout during the position drills.

“I think I would say that – the great defenses you look at, there’s at least two or three guys who can play a multitude of roles,” Styles said when answering questions at the combine. “Like for example, this year for the Seahawks, Nick Emmanwori was a versatile player, and when you have guys like that on your defense, you’re able to do a lot of different things as a coordinator.”

Styles truly had one of the best combine performances ever, grading out at 10.00 on the relative athletic score, the first linebacker to do so since 2022.