Linebacker · Washington Commanders

Sonny Styles

No. 52 · Rookie

A rookie walks into Washington carrying a legend's number in his head

Sean Taylor has been gone for nearly two decades, and Washington fans still lower their voices a little when his name comes up. That is the weight Sonny Styles is choosing to pick up.

Styles is a rookie with the Washington Commanders. That is everything and nothing at once — the start of a career, a blank page, no track record yet to point to. What he does have is a clear sense of who he wants to become.

In a conversation with CBS Sports, Styles named Sean Taylor as the player he wants to follow. Not a current star, not someone he could watch live as a teenager. A legend. The standard Taylor set in Washington was ferocious and brief and still unforgettable to everyone who saw it.

Choosing to say that out loud, in your first year, before you have played a down — that is either confidence or conviction, and the difference tends to show up over time.

The name is out there now. Washington will be watching to see what Styles builds around it.

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