Sonny Styles made his preseason debut last Friday when the Washington Commanders hosted the Miami Dolphins, and he was honest when assessing his performance with the media after Wednesday's practice.

"I wasn't a big fan of it," Styles said.

The Dolphins opened the game with a 14-play, 93-yard drive, and like head coach Dan Quinn, that doesn't sit well with Styles. He, like the rest of the defense, got off to a slow start, allowing the Dolphins to pick up four first downs and score on a De'Von Achane run. Styles doesn't carry all the blame for that, but with it being his only drive of the game, it's a moment he wishes could have gone differently.

But the team hasn't lost any confidence in Styles; Quinn and the staff feel like he has lived up to their expectations of him in practice. It isn't deterring Styles, either, and he's already getting back to fine tuning his skill set. He knows it is part of the process, and every experience is helping slow down the game for him.

"It's more of a weekly basis as we go through these different chunks," Styles said. "I think as you go through all those chunks of practices, you see yourself starting to play faster, see things a little quicker."

In many ways, Styles arrived ready-made to the NFL. Aside from his physical and athletic traits, both of which have been well-documented since the pre-draft process, Styles has approached playing in the NFL with maturity beyond his years. He puts in the work, both on and off the field, and it's largely paid off in practice. He routinely stands out not just because of his 6-foot-5, 243-pound frame, but also because he is normally in the right spot to make plays.

It's because of this level of preparedness that the Commanders already feel comfortable with Styles wearing the green dot on his helmet that identifies him as the on-field play caller. It's an important responsibility that is normally reserved for more experienced players, but Styles has proven himself as a quick study. He also feels comfortable in Daronte Jones' system, which he said has some similarities to what he ran at Ohio State.

"We're pretty good on knowing what to do, knowing how to do it," Styles said. "And I think now, it's just to keep taking the steps of knowing why. Why are we calling this? What are we trying to defend? ... That's something coach DJ [Jones] talks about a lot, just upping our IQ and keeping it better in that sense."

That level of knowledge doesn't surprise Quinn, because he has always viewed Styles as a detail-oriented player who pays attention to coaching. Styles was critical of himself when assessing his performance against the Dolphins, saying he needs to improve his footwork and shedding blocks. Quinn also said that "if you asked him, he didn't get downhill enough, didn't take a shot when it was there."

That might be true, but Quinn has also seen plenty of positives from Styles that point to him getting a better grasp on the professional game.

"He gets great depth in the zones," Quinn said. "I think that's gonna be one of the things that perhaps his safety background helps, where you might see an inside backer, they're at six yards, seven yards. He gets deep, man."

Styles has the technical aspects of the position, but his next goal is play faster and more instinctive. Some of that has already happened, but he wants to keep pushing that so making plays on the field comes more naturally to him. He used the progression of recognizing a play and getting a tackle to getting an interception when he sees the play again as an example.

"Just keep playing fast," Styles said. "Keep trusting those instincts."

Styles' next opportunity to show how he has improved will be against the Detroit Lions in the Commanders' second preseason game. He doesn't know what his snap count will be, although if he had his way, he would probably want to play for much longer than he did against the Dolphins.

But Styles knows that's not his decision. His job, like it's been throughout camp, is to make the most of whatever opportunity comes his way.

"I just wanna get out there, start fast," Styles said. "Just get it going early."