Opening Statement: "Alright. Good evening everybody. I've been smiling ear to ear for a while now after all the high fives and everything kind of settled in. But we got [LB] Sonny Styles and I can't tell you how many reasons why we liked him. But you can go on and on about him and we're thrilled to have him. And so, to pick Sonny Styles with the seventh pick, yeah, didn't think he was going to be there. Thought there was a low chance, there was a chance, but it was an easy pick when he was there and we were on the clock. So, a little bit about Sonny. I think he's a true Commander. He is a true Commander through and through, and that's what makes one of the great many things that makes you smile and you're going to get an outstanding person in this building, an outstanding competitor, outstanding football character, everything across the board. And so, first and foremost, the human, great family. I got to meet them at the pro day. And he's just kind of everything you want there as a football player and a guy in your building, in your bloodstream. So, little bit about Sonny as a player. I mean, he's huge [laughs]. I mean, it's just amazing. He is 21 years old, he is a young guy. He's just scratching the surface, but he is an elite athlete, elite size, elite length and he's just scratching the surface as a linebacker, and he is already really good, and he is only going to get better. And that's what gave me a lot of confidence too, is that he's going to get better. And we have the people in this building with our coaching staff and the support staff to get him there. And then himself, he's the type of person who will reach whatever potential he has, he will reach that potential. He's humble, he's driven, he just kind of checks every box. And so, it made it an easy pick. We had a great visit with him on the 30-visit. Super impressive, super impressive football intelligence, super impressive, just presence and just everything about him screamed Commander. And so, as a player, sideline to sideline, he can blitz, he can cover, he can play in the box. He got better as the year went on. He's only been playing linebacker for two years, and he got better and better, and he played his best ball at the end of the year. So, he's still just ascending. And it's fun to watch his progression and just seeing how much better he got and how much better he still can get. So, everything across the board, coaches, scouts, R&D, you got the whole building behind him. And so, really thrilled about it and just ready to open up for questions."
On Styles improving as a linebacker: "Yeah, I think it really every kind of portion of the game, I think you see him playing in the box and using his hands and shedding blocks and reading blocks and then getting to the ball and playing physical, taking on guards. And it got better and better. And then as a blitzer, he got better. And I think he's just scratching the surface there, and he's going to be a great blitzer. And so all those things that come with changing positions, you saw it kind of come to life and you saw it in the playoffs. I mean, he played against Indiana. His game against Indiana was incredible. And just made some big time plays in the Miami game as well. Indiana wasn't in the playoffs, but you know everything about them [laughs]." On if Styles can make a similar impact to San Francisco 49ers LB Fred Warner: "Yeah, I probably don't want to make the mistake of getting into comparisons on that because Fred, he is a gold jacket. So, if he can be like Fred, then we're all going to be really happy. But Sonny's, speaking just about Sonny and his size and his length and his ability to cover the whole field, I think those things for any NFL linebacker, you covet those things. And so, yeah I kind of want to stay away from that knowing how good Fred
is and the person, but they're both elite people and they're both guys that you want in your locker room for sure." On how he envisions using Styles: "Yeah, I think that's one of the cool things because we have a really talented room I think, and guys that are all very versatile. And we have a coaching staff that is really good about deploying those guys. And so, I mean, Sonny's a guy who can play off the ball. He can play on the ball. He can mug up and blitz. There's so many different things he can do. He could play, MIKE, play WILL, play SAM, all those different things. He's got the size to play on the edge. And so, he's really versatile. And so, we can kind of mix and match and deploy those guys and play as many linebackers as we can on the field. And I'm excited to see what the guys will do with [Defensive Coordinator] Daronte [Jones] and DQ [Head Coach Dan Quinn] and [Linebackers Coach] Ken [Norton Jr.] and those guys. They're going to be able to get really creative." On if the team had the opportunity to trade down: "Yeah, it was kind of funny. We didn't, we did a lot of work on the move down. We did. We spent a lot of time on it. [Senior Vice President of Football Operations] Brandon [Sosna] back there was with me looking at all the different iterations of moving back and everything like that, we didn't look to move up but, crickets. It was crickets. So really it was just looking at my phone, and nothing. So, we were so happy, we were happy to stay and pick there." On if Styles was the pick all along and on when the team locked in on him: "Yeah, it was. It was this week and it was really cool. We got a lot of great input from everybody in the building. The coaches did a great job, our R& D and our scouting department asked a lot of different guys, all right here, this group of players who will likely to be there, what's your order and why? And so I was able to get a ton of different perspectives, you get Brandon's perspective which is different than a scout's perspective, which is different than R&D. So, I really got to see all the different sides of the decision and that really helped crystallize the decision. And then making it, just putting together tapes on all these guys and you fall in love with a lot of them because they're all really, really good players and there's a lot of really good players that got picked before us and then some after. But Sonny, I felt really, really good about him, really throughout the process, but certainly after the 30-visit and then this week kind of getting all that input." On aiming to get younger and faster as a team: "Yeah, he definitely embodies that and 21 years old, so he's still really young. Graduated high school early, gosh, yeah that blows my mind too. And obviously 4.4 guy at 6-5, we're really, really fast. He covers a lot of ground, so it's a big deal in this league." On the linebacker room: "Well I think looking at this, we wanted to just get the best player. We didn't want to draft for need and so we wanted to get the best player and we thought the best player that was staring at us in the face was a linebacker. And so, that room we feel great about, we felt good about it going in, now we feel great about it. And I love the guys in that room already. They're competitive guys, they're really athletic. They're all guys that you want to have on your team. So, it's just adding more competition and that's really the theme of our program is competition and I know those guys will all fight and create roles for themselves, but certainly happy with the makeup of that room and the talent level now." On his approach for the rest of the draft: "Yeah, it's a lot of waiting. And that comes with the territory when you trade the picks, but yeah, it's a long wait until 71, so you watch a lot of guys that you really like go off the board [laughs] but yeah, getting ready and we'll regroup after this and see who comes off the board in the first round. And just kind of strategize, if this, then that in terms of at pick 71. Again, I don't really see us trading up from 71, so we'll just have to sit and
wait but we're confident we'll get a good player. It's just a matter of just making the best decision for the team and again, just getting the best player available."
On Styles as a person: "He is an outstanding young man but he's mature beyond his years, and he's very curious. He wants to know what the great ones do. He wants to know, he wants to be great. He's really humble and he's very driven. And so those things made us all really confident that he's going to reach his ceiling." On when he thought getting Styles was a possibility: "The first three were pretty, we thought that the receiver [Carnell Tate], his ceiling was four and probably his floor was nine, and then with the Giants just trying to, whatever they did, and I didn't think a corner would go in front of us, but that's also because none of those teams would've taken him. But the trade, that was probably when that happened we were just like, 'Okay, we got this.' And so, that was kind of the moment but a little bit nervous before that. But we felt really good with whoever was going to come to us and we just got a little bonus." On Styles and LB Leo Chenal: "Yeah, yeah, you said it. Both of those guys, very versatile, really good in coverage. And then they can both blitz really well. So, whether they're both up on the line of scrimmage, one blitzes and one drops, you don't know who's coming, you don't know who's not. And they're both really adept at both, so that makes it easier for us so we're not so one dimensional and then you got [LB] Frankie [Luvu], who can do the same thing too. So, just the versatility of them and them being able to line up in different spots. And all of those guys are great communicators too. They're all really smart. So, I think it just kind of, it keeps your options open there."
On when a player wants to come to your team: "It certainly helps. I think just get a chance to sit down and talk to him and understanding, he's really driven and he really has the desire to be great and he wants to be great for us. And you could feel that, a lot of guys try to sell themselves and rightfully so, it's a job interview, so that's part of it. But he was genuine, he was real, he wasn't trying and was very comfortable in what he said. And so, it makes you really confident that he's going to do everything he can to be great and be great for us." On improving the defense: "Yeah, I think it goes back to kind of what we wanted to do, just get younger and faster, and I think we've done that. But we've added a lot of guys that we would call Commanders. And so, I think that'll never be something that we don't do. That'll always be the forefront of all of our decision making. And so, getting those guys and they've been in all week and I wish I had been more present with the team this week. I was not very present this week [laughs]. Hold up in my office a little bit but can't wait to hang out with those guys next week. But just the little bit that I did get a chance to go down to lunch ad walk around the building and these guys are all bought in, the new guys they're bought in, they're going to dinner together, they're staying late, these guys really want to be great and they really want to learn the new defense. Daronte, I talked to a bunch of them and Daronte has just blown them away, just the way he presents in his teaching and so they're really excited to learn the new defense. And so, they got new guys that are hungry, they're hungry to prove themselves and hungry to learn. And so, it's been really exciting to see." On Styles having success in college and on how that can translate to the NFL: "Yeah, you want to bet on the stock and bet on somebody who's been around it and somebody who knows what it's like. And so, that's always a bonus, not a requisite, but it always helps and understanding, even when you're little, you just kind of understand what it takes and you can tell that his parents have instilled that in him, just how mature and responsible and driven. He's been raised really well, but at the same time, he's a guy you want your daughter to marry. And so, all of those things. And so, yeah, he's been raised really well and
certainly been around football, so that is a big bonus for sure."
