Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans SONNY STYLES SHOCKER in NFL Draft Could Be Coming & Linebacker Roles Set up Perfect

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

The Tennessee Titans are expected to consider many positions in the first round of the NFL Draft, but one fans need to consider more is Sonny Styles at linebacker. While there are legitimate reasons to dislike a Styles pick, there are also real reasons why the Titans would take him. Especially with how the board is expected to fall. Jeremiyah Love would be the better pick, but that is a matter of opinion. Along with that, Styles does slot perfectly into the Titans linebacker group and would immediately replace Cody Barton as the MIKE linebacker with Cedric Gray at the Will.   LOCKED ON TITANS EVERYDAY CLUB: https://lockedontitans.supercast.com/   Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans   TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc   Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans   Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod   Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos   Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I think the Tennessee Titans could shock the world and take sunny styles at number four, even if I don't agree. I'll explain on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowan Titans fans, on to the Locked on Titans' fans on. Today show.

We're going to talk about the possibility that the Tennessee Titans could shock the world and take Sunny Stiles at number four. I'll tell you why I disagree with that decision, but it's a decision the Tennessee Titans could very realistically make. Also, we'll talk about the current role set up with the Titans linebacker group and why Stiles does make perfect sense. Before we get into all of it, do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans.

Your first listen each and every day. Remember Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribe, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout up to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys.

If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one. We're in the middle of the 2026, locked on Titans, NFL draft preview series going through every single position. We've hit the offense. We've hit edge rushers tonight. We're going to do the rest of the linebackers. And with that in mind, we start with the conversation about Sunday.

Sonny Stiles. Make sure that you stay locked in with the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world, locked on Titans. But again, with that being said, I think there is a realistic chance. I woke up this morning

acknowledging that I think that there is a realistic chance that Sunny Stiles is actually the pick for the Tennessee Titans at number four. Again, like we talked about yesterday when we talked about the edge situation, I think that Rval Reese and David Bailey will be off the board, pick two, pick three.

I don't know what teams are going to be there to take them, but I think that David Bailey and Arvell Reese are off the board. And I think those guys would be the pick for the Tennessee Titans. And again, the easy thing to say, if that is the fact, is take Jeremiah Love. That's what feels like, 85, 90% of the fan base is screaming, oh, well, that's fine. You just take Jeremiah Love.

I want Jeremiah Love at number four anyway. Bub, that's what everyone's saying. But I think we need to acknowledge a world where Sunny Stiles, the linebacker out of Ohio State, is actually the pick for the Titans. Now, me again, people continue to try to put words in my mouth,

rearrange the words that I say, twist them to mean this. I would take Jeremiah Love over Sunny Stiles. I would take Carnell Tate over Sunny Stiles. Now, I would take Sunny Stiles. over one of the cornerbacks. I would take Sunny Stiles over Caleb Downs. Now, I would take Ruben Bain over all of these folks,

but I don't think the Titans want Ruben Bain. So that is my ranking. I would take Jeremiah Love. So before everybody gets mad and comes for me, it's like, no, they're taking Jeremiah Love, you idiot. I would take Jeremiah Love. But again, I think that there is a realistic possibility, better than zero chance.

Quite frankly, I would probably give it like a 20, 25 to 33% chance right now that if Arvel Reese and David Bailey are off the board, that the pick of Sonny Stiles. And let's just be honest about why. He is an elite prospect. Now, it's a non-premium position. Linebacker is not a position that people want to pay big money to, this and that.

So he's in the same bucket as Jeremiah Love, Caleb Downs. These are non-premium positions. Can you take them? That conversation still applies. But he's 6 foot 5. 244 pounds with 32.8 inch arms that ran a 4-640 that had a 43 and a half vertical jump at the combine

which is the best we've ever seen for a linebacker until I think it was Eli Stowers did a 45 later on. It was the best vertical jump they'd ever seen at the combine. 13.4 broad jump. Elite, elite testing numbers. One of the greatest combine performances of all time. And that's just the measurables. That's just the testing, which I know the ball knowers out there are saying, I don't care about the combine testing and the measurables and all that.

What about the football? Well, he's incredible on the field. Great frame for a linebacker, prototypical length and build for a linebacker in the NFL. sideline to sideline speed. Truly, he's a former safety. So truly an incredible navigator of the field sideline to sideline ability

will chase you down anywhere you're at and has the speed to access all of it. He's going to get his hands in your chest and he's going to shed blocks. He's got the length and he plays with enough physicality. Good pop in the hands. Incredible recognition skills.

Like for a former safety who came down to linebacker for him to be as good at reading the play as he is, it's unbelievable. And if you don't know about the Stiles family, you don't know about Sonny Stiles, this dude is an elite character guy. As professional as they get leader, hard worker, dedicated to football,

he is an elite level person, Sonny Stiles is. I had a conversation on Twitter earlier today somebody said, oh, they haven't even brought them in for a visit. It's crazy. You know why, I talked about this when we talked about the 30 visits a couple weeks ago or a week ago. 30 visits are usually to iron out something you're concerned about.

The Titans don't have a meeting with every person that they pick every year. They have no concerns about Sunny Stiles because it is well known how elite of a football character guy he is. and just the type of person, Sunny Stiles and the family. His brother's the same way. So Sonny Stiles is a player.

Sunny Stiles may be the best player in this draft and we add in, there are numbers out there that would tell you he's a better pass rusher than R. Val Rees. His pressure rate among pass rushing snatches.

like he's more efficient as a pass rusher than Raval Rases. And there's an argument to be made that he could be just as good of a pass rusher as Rvel Reese. Except for he's better in coverage, great in coverage, dropping back over the middle of the field. Now look, he's a college player who's played linebacker for two years. His awareness can go up. His pad level because he's 6' 5 can be a little high. He's not as violent downhill as Arvel Reese.

And Brian Peacock from the Lockdown 49ers podcast he said to me on Twitter that he did not think that Sonny Stiles would be a fit for Robert Sala because he's not violent enough. But at the end of the day, those measurables, that character, that skill set, he did not miss a tackle all season. Sunny Stiles did not miss a tackle the entire season.

That's crazy. That's crazy. He is as good of a prospect as Jeremiah Love is as a non-premium position. Sunny Stiles is as good of a prospect at a non-premian position as Jeremiah Love is and some would say better. I know my guy James Foster from No Flag's films,

he has Sunny Stiles as the best player in the draft. So when the Titans say we're going to take the best player available and then they take Sunny Stiles and surprise all of them, maybe we shouldn't be asked surprised. And this goes back to my conversation I had when the Titans say best player available and you go, see, I told you they want Jeremiah Love. You don't know who their best player available is.

Maybe it's not Jeremiah Love. Maybe everybody saying he's the best player in the draft. Maybe Mike Borganzi does not agree. And Robert Sala may look at Sonny Stiles and say, why would I not want an elite linebacker in the middle of my defense. Now, again,

I would not want Sunny Stiles to be the pick. But when you look at Robert Salas history, when you look at Stiles as a player, when you look at the Titans' current linebacker roles, again, it makes it even more obvious

how the Titans could end up taking Stiles at number four. Let's continue the conversation now. to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDul Sportsbook. The NBA playoffs are here where every possession matters. Every matchup is magnified and every game can swing a series. And right now, Fandle is giving new customers a great way to get in on the action. Here's what I like about it.

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But make sure that you head to fandle.com to get start. Again, that's fandle.com, Fandle play your game. Also want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by TurboTax. It's tax time. But for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers,

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But now we need to talk about the fit because I really do think that styles would be an excellent fit in theory in the Tennessee. Titans linebacker group with the folks that they currently have now. Number one, do want to say this. My argument against Sunny Stiles is that linebacker is not a premium position. If you're not going to take a premium position, you need to take someone that helps Cam Ward, aka Jeremiah Love.

Like if we're not going to take a premium guy at run, or at wide receiver, edge, offensive tackle, pass rusher, if we're not going to take that and we're taking a non-premium, and needs to be somebody who helps the offense and helps Cam Ward, and that's Jeremiah Love. So that is my argument there. Also, Robert Sala, and this is the crux of the conversation in this part.

Robert Sala has made a career out of getting the most out of late round, let's say, low-capital linebackers. Mid-round, late-round picks, like Fred Warner on Day 3, or Dre Greenlaw, or undrafted free agent guys getting the absolute best out of them like he did at times last year with the defense. Took a guy like Quincy Williams and made him good.

CJ Mosley made the best in his NFL career as prime. Robert Sala has made a career out of getting the most out of those low capital linebackers. So why, if my head coach is a linebacker savant, why would I waste a high pick on a linebacker? When my head coach can just take someone with lower capital and make them good anyway. That is the argument. But let me say this. That's asking a lot out of a coach.

And I think any coach would tell you, yeah, I'm good at coaching this position, but I still want the most talented player I could possibly have in every spot. And if you gave Robert Sala a chance to have Sonny Stiles with his length, his speed, his awareness, his athleticism, his character to continue to build the culture, if you gave Robert Sala a guy like Sonny Stiles, it might be the best middle linebacker in the entire NFL for a decade.

And if they take Sunny Stiles, that would be the thought process, is we just got ourselves the best linebacker in the NFL for the next decade to captain and command our defense. So I can sit here and tell you, oh, Robert Sala will get the most out of a scrub. Why do we need? But if you're Robert Sala, you're saying,

give me that guy. And we have the middle covered up forever. You're done. The speed, the awareness, the vision, and the pass rushability. He could turn into a great pass rusher as a rusher as well.

with, you know, the mugged fronts that we see from Robert Sala with the way he'll be utilized all around the formation because the Titans will probably use dime packages with Kevin Winston and Amani Hooker at linebacker and they still have Cedric Gray. And speaking of Cedric Gray, the last part of this Sunny Stiles conversation is how he fits with the Titans current linebacker roles.

It's crazy to me how some people talk so, confidently, you know, without watching the film of what's happening. Cedric Gray is a will linebacker. So in Robert Salas 4-3, there are three linebacker spots. There is the Mike linebacker. There is the Will linebacker and there is the Sam linebacker. The Mike linebacker is your prototypical middle linebacker. Fred Warner, Fred Warner, the Mike linebacker for San Francisco.

Coverage over the middle, makes tackles, all of that. Your will linebacker is your run-and-chase linebacker. They're not meant to be as good in coverage. They don't have to be as big. A lot of will linebackers are undersized like Quincy Williams and C.J. Mosley. C.J. Mosley was the Mike. Quincy Williams was the Will. will linebackers are typically more athletic, a little more violent downhill,

and your Sam linebacker is a guy who can be a stack linebacker or can be on the line of scrimmage and function as an edge guy. And I talked with somebody earlier today and they're like, oh, Cedric Gray could play the Sam. Cedric Gray is not going to play the Sam. He's not a Sam linebacker. They sign Muhammad Di Abadi to be the Sam linebacker because he is, a pseudo edge. That's why we talked about Femio

potentially being a Sam linebacker because he could be a stack linebacker and an edge guy. A Sam linebacker is a versatile linebacker that can play off ball and play on the line of scrimmage. That's not Cedric Gray. I don't, how do people not know that?

You know, like, or let me say this. It's fair if people don't know that. I don't expect everybody to be as educated, or understand roles and everything. It's okay if you don't know that. But to speak so confidently and tell other people that they're wrong

or blah, this and that when you don't know what that means. It's just, it's crazy to me. So, Diabody is going to be the Sam. Cedric Gray is the will. Cody Barton was the mic last year. Cedric Gray was the will line. I had people telling me

Cedric Gray was the Mike last year. Why couldn't he play Mike? He was the Will last year. Cody Barton is the Mike linebacker. And a lot of people say green dot, green dot, green dot. Listen, the green dot could go on a safety. The green dot could go on a will. The green, yes, in a perfect world

if you're building a prototypical football team from the ground up, you want your Mike linebacker to be your leader on defense, your vocal captain, your green dot who gets everybody in the right spot and does everybody. But Amani Hooker, the green dot before. Cedric Gray could wear the green dot.

It doesn't mean he's the Mike linebacker. Those aren't related things. Mike is a positional thing within the scheme of a defense. Green dot is just who has a dot on their head and calls the plays. Doesn't have to be your Mike linebacker. It's been safeties. It's been wills.

There is no correlation between oh, he had the green dot, he's the Mike. That's not how that works. So Cedric Gray is the will. Dibati is the Sam, they don't have a starting Mike linebacker. I think Cody Barton is a backup linebacker at this stage in his career. He's a backup, not a pure starter. And he certainly isn't violent enough or fast enough

to be Robert Sala's answer in the middle. So whether it be, whether I agree or not, again, because some people seem to misconstrue when I make the argument for someone, it doesn't mean that I agree. I'm just going over the argument. The argument for Sonny Stiles is clear. He's an elite prospect at a position of need

with a perfect fit next to Cedric Gray long term that could be the Titans best player available. It's that simple. Now with that being said, again, linebacker is a position that I have not given enough attention, whether that be Sunny Stiles at the top or whether that be on day two of the draft. and we're going to look at some potential linebacker options for the Tennessee Titans

on tonight's full length locked on Titans. So make sure that you guys check that out. But that's going to do it for today's bonus edition. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.