Empire

The man nerds got their man in the middle.

Hello and welcome to my podcast.

Do me a favor, subscribe to the John Conn report wherever you get your podcast, if you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button. Hit that subscribe button. You can find us there as part of Empire Media, AMPIRE. Always much appreciated when you tune in. Don't forget you can read my work on ESPN.com. I have analysis up of the commanders picking sunny styles that is up on ESPN.com. I'll have videos up there as well. And I'll have two videos up in that you can go check out on ESPN.com. And also, just a note, we'll be talking to Sunny Styles on Friday during a press conference, not sure what time yet. And then we get into rounds two and three. They do not have a second round pick. And Adam Peters said they will not be looking to move up from 71, so we'll be sticking there waiting to see what they do in the third round. Anyways, let's get to Sunny Stiles because this is a guy that I know that they have long, liked, and wanted. And that's why when we talked to Adam Peters earlier tonight, he said he's been smiling ear to ear since this pick was made. This is someone

that I know they absolutely liked. Obviously they like. They took them number seven overall, but I know

that after what I kept hearing is after Jeremiah Love, I think this was the guy they absolutely

wanted. I think if Love had been there, I think then you had, I could have seen them easily taking

him. That was the one offensive guy player that I thought they would, basically had heard throughout this that they would take at seven. But they knew there was a very, it was very much a long shot that love would be there. So Stiles is absolutely a guy that they thought had a chance to be there. And Peter said he didn't think he'd be there, but there was a chance, a better chance of that happening, and that's how it unfolded. That's why there was no doubt they were going to take him when he was sitting there. When we did our mock draft for ESPN, Stiles wasn't there. Definitely would have been the guy I picked. I can say that now, but that's, you know, of course. But the guy that I picked was Mansour Delane, who Kansas City traded up to number six

to draft ahead of Washington. So, but I'm telling you, they are thrilled with this pick of

Sonny Stiles because he's the kind of guy that's, he is, and it's funny because you always hear

a commander, commander, who he's a commander. But I do think that this is a guy that, who is a perfect

fit for what Dan Quinn wants on the field and the building, all sorts of that, all that stuff, right?

And it's, you know, I know Adam Peters had Fred Warner in San Francisco, and we, we talked to him

about that at the league meeting, you know, just as a guy like, hey, it's a middle linebacker, positional value, et cetera, but he saw what the difference that Warner made for San Francisco, I don't know that styles can make that difference here. I think that's asking a lot. And I did ask Adam then. He said, hey, listen, Fred's a gold jacket guy. So that's kind of a lofty standard to set however there is a is a lot to like about styles. But I'm getting into, first of all, like why I always thought they would go defense, first of all. And when I would talk to people in the league, talk to people here, defense was always kind of what you would hear. Again, if Love had been there, I do think he would have been, I think he would have been the pick um and you know for

almost for sure but he wasn't and so then you turn because like he's the guy but other than that

it was going to be defense it was just a matter of who would be available for them why is it

defense they spent a lot of money on there it's i know it's the number is what like 888 million

it's about 120 million guaranteed money like $188 million. It's about $120 million

guaranteed money. But when you look at it, like most of that money went to Odafe Owe. Like half of that

120-some went to Odafe Owe. So then you're looking at like seven or seven other players,

maybe eight other players who accounted for the other 50-some million dollars in guaranteed money.

So it wasn't like they signed a bunch of all-stars, but it also highlights how much work

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