sonny styles made his preseason debut last Friday for the Washington Commanders, and the first drive showed how much faster the NFL still feels to a player learning on the fly. The Miami Dolphins opened with a 14-play, 93-yard drive and scored on a De'Von Achane run, a clean opening sequence that put Styles into immediate game-speed work.
Last Friday at Washington Commanders
Last Friday was the first live test for Styles in a Washington Commanders uniform, and it came with him already carrying a bigger assignment than a simple snap count. The Commanders are comfortable with him wearing the green dot on his helmet, which makes him the on-field play caller, and that is not a role handed out to a player they see as a passive depth piece.
After Wednesday’s practice, Styles did not soften his own review. “I wasn't a big fan of it,” he said, then added, “It's more of a weekly basis as we go through these different chunks” and, “I think as you go through all those chunks of practices, you see yourself starting to play faster, see things a little quicker.”
Dan Quinn on Styles
Dan Quinn’s read matched the basic shape of the debut, but not the same self-criticism. He said Styles “did not get downhill enough, didn't take a shot when it was there,” while also noting, “He gets great depth in the zones.” That split matters because it points to a player already showing range and positioning, but still needing more violence and timing when the play comes downhill.
Styles said he played at Ohio State in a system that has some similarities to Daronte Jones' system, and that familiarity helps explain why the Commanders are already trusting him with communication duties. He said, “We're pretty good on knowing what to do, knowing how to do it,” then pushed the development question one layer deeper: “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.”
Four first downs allowed
The most useful number from the debut is not just the 14-play march or the 93-yard finish; it is the four first downs the Miami Dolphins stacked before scoring. That is the kind of sequence that exposes whether a defender is processing fast enough, fitting correctly, and closing space before the offense can settle into rhythm.
At 6-foot-5 and 243 pounds, Styles has the frame to play through contact, but he said he still needs to improve his footwork and shedding blocks. The Washington Commanders returned to the field after taking the weekend off to begin preparations for the Detroit Lions, and Styles’ next step is straightforward: cleaner first-step work, quicker recognition, and more force when the action comes toward him.
