Sonny Styles switches from No. 0 in college to No. 52 in the NFL

Commanders linebacker Sonny Styles, the seventh overall pick in the draft, most recently wore No. 0 at Ohio State. With cornerback Mike Sainristil wearing that number in Washington, Styles needed something new.

He explained his decision to embrace No. 52 in a Friday session with reporters.

“I’m not really a big number guy,” Styles said. “Like, I wasn’t really big into single digits. I like zero. Mikey has zero. So then, like, I was telling [linebackers] coach [Ken Norton] like when I look in the room [with] London on the wall, London Fletcher, LaVar [Arrington]. I think it was Ken Harvey and Monte Coleman. It was all like 50 numbers. And I was like, ‘Shoot, I’m gonna pick a 50 number.’ And I was thinking about it. You know, I remember growing up watching like Patrick Willis, Ray Lewis. So like, hey, 52 would be cool. And then my dad was like, ‘Hey, five plus two is seven, so that’s your draft pick.’ So I was like, man, that’s cool. It seems pretty cool. So that’s really how I landed on it.”

Given the proximity to Baltimore, Commanders fans will be hoping that Styles performs like Ray Lewis did in his Hall of Fame career with the Ravens.